In the aftermath of Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee, the Federal Emergency Management Agency has worked diligently to encourage people to apply for assistance. So far, more than 35,000 in the region have done so. But some economists and risk experts wonder whether the nation is spending its way toward a disaster of another type — financial. J. David Cummins and his colleagues at Temple's Fox School of Business estimate that by the end of the century, the cumulative federal disaster price tag could spiral into the trillions.