they re busy trying to put their lives back together again. from staten island to long island, local businesses are urging customers to give back to their local communities and help neighborhoods ravaged by storm. estimated 100 million people participated in the annual event. and in the 50 billion dollar range with about 12 billion in new york city alone and 20 billion of the total is from lost economic activity, for example, airlines canceling flights and restaurants not serving meals and casinos not being able to take bets and shop owners are hoping small business saturday helps their bottom line. we were closed for ten days, which is a major freakout. when the rents here are not low. mom and pop shops getting a big boost on this small business saturday. new york city mayor michael bloomberg announcing 5 1/2 million dollars in matching grants to some of the hardest hit businesses in new york
now, the owner of this gift shop here, rumors in long island say that sandy could not have hit at a worst time. during the last three months of the year she gets 40% of her sales and she s going to have a tough time making that up. customers are more concerned about necessities than presents. a lot of our customers, the babylon, west side, they re out of their homes and living with relatives and all over the place and they re trying to meet with fema, meet with insurance people, meet with restorers. they have no time to shop. they re busy trying to put their lives back together again. well, from staten island to long island, local businesses are urging customers to give back to their local communities and help provide neighborhoods ravaged by the storm. and last year, 100 million people participated in the growing event. and the economic impact has been estimated by moody s in the 50 billion dollar range and 12 billion in new york
northeast is reeling and the owner of rumors gift shop in long island says sandy couldn t have hit at a worst time. she depends on a percent many her sales the last through months of the year, but she s happy that her vendors are allowing her to delay payment. i was in tears, actually, over that, because i was a scared. i don t want to lose my credit, my good name, my good reputation so they re sticking by me. this business is like your child, isn t it? this is my other home. and well, from staten island to long island, local businesses are urging customers to give back to their local communities and help provide neighborhoods devastated by the storm. last year on small business saturday, an estimated 100 million people participated in the growing annual event. the economic impact of sandy has been estimated by moody s analytics in the 50 billion
as well as to the taxpayer because they say it s a 50 billion dollar deal and my friends, this will be a 100 billion dollars by the time it s done. brenda: todd, is this the role of government to tell people where to move. and i don t think so, brenda, however, it s prer of the u.s. government to actually say something as far as providing warnings, you think of seat belt rules and wearing a helmet on a motorcycle. telling americans where they should and should not live. you can t do that. sure you can, they do it in a variety of places, if you can t get flood insurance, you can t own homes there. and you don t prevent people from moving in the flood zones or for rest because of a massive forest fire. if they are willing to assume the risk, that s what hans. brenda: jonas, do they assume the risk? flood insurance is subsidize $and what we re seeing with
governments. your governor there in new york says it s 50 billion dollar problem in terms of cost to new york, new jersey, you ve got to do something with rebuilding that coastline and all of the damage. in philadelphia, connecticut, the damage and cost to local government. so, i would put forward a bill, there will be a bill to provide emergency funding because the storm, as there always is, and the question about, you know, when we move and how we move it. i think we should move forward aggressively now because you know, i heard on fox business that it s 25 billion in retail sale losses, i mean, we there s going to be a real economic consequence here and we need to respond. neil: you know, maybe i m maybe the only one in the country that doesn t share your enthusiasm for fema because i saw a lot of fema officials and others slapping themselves on the back about the great job they re doing, congressman and looking at