You know those people who insist that unions are good for workers, and thus are in turn good for the economy? Well I think this calls bullshit big time on their inane babbling:

In a city that lost an estimated $1 billion during the strike, any kind of quiet--especially during the pre-Christmas week that typically provides up to 20 percent of many retailers' annual revenues--is not a good thing.

Here you have a single strike that lasted a few days or so and it caused an incredible amount of loss to the economy. One billion dollars is a lot of lost business, no matter how you look at it. Just imagine if this strike had been extended for another few days into New Years. The amount of damage that would have been done to retailing could quite easily have been nearly catastrophic for sections of New York City, but I'm sure that the union apologists will find some excuse for why small shop owners should be punished because of the greed of these transportation workers.