Life remains pretty rugged for citizens and visitors to the US southeast. Henry notes that, with New Orleans below sea level, water will have to be pumped out before things can get back to normal – no small undertaking – so we have a long way to go before life returns to any semblance of normality. Construction stocks anyone?

Meanwhile, as people fight to keep their lives together, the hurricane and resulting floods have provided a nice hook for ongoing debate about global warming, as can be found in, for example, the Boston Herald, which weighs up opinions, including the one that appears to sum up the general consensus of the most sober analysis: “There are good reasons to expect that any conclusive connection between global warming and hurricanes or their impacts will not be made in the near term.”

Henry agrees, but try telling that to a family living in the roof of their house with wet feet and no electricity.

Back home, the tax debate is still ticking over, with Treasurer Costello and Malcolm Turnbull continuing to throw each others toys out of the sandpit, and the PM stirring the pot a bit, saying “We want people in our party with ideas, with ambition, with energy and we brought into the parliament at the last election a lot of people in that category”. Visit Henry’s tax page.

And read more here, including Henry’s take on Telstra and the rate cut rumour…