My complaint isn't about raising the threat level, it's about Margaret Chan, the head of WHO, saying, "All of humanity is under threat." There _is_ money made, not through declaring a pandemic, but from treating this mild H1N1 virus as the end of the world as we know it, all of humanity at risk, when nothing supports that. It's not the statistical reporting of cases and deaths (what, six in the US so far?). Look at the fear-mongering here in today's WebMD:
http://www.webmd.com/cold-and-flu/news/20090518/swine-flu-japan-outbreak-may-trigger-pandemic
The report starts saying new cases in Japan are "pushing the world to the brink of an official flu pandemic." The number of cases "spiked" today. "Community-level sustained transmission." "Emotional shock." But then way down on the page, we find that there's no indication of a change in the virulency of the virus. It's still mild. It's just that cases are continuing to be reported.

This kind of sensationalistic crap sells papers, gets people to watch TV, gets experts hired to opine, etc. It's not "declaring a pandemic" that makes money, it's the sensationalizing of it: "All of humanity is under threat." More eyeballs means more revenue, and sensational stories pull in the readers and viewers.

http://www.gmanews.tv/story/161501/What-next-if-WHO-declares-flu-pandemic
says there's greater danger from mass panic than from the flu. It says that "WHO's pandemic phases only judge how fast a virus spreads," as you point out, but that nobody knows that: "All of humanity is under threat" is not a plain statement that a mild flu is spreading rapidly and that increases in alert level mean increased morbidity not increased mortality.

> There's plenty of cause for concern with H1N1 ... .

There's cause for concern with every strain. I expect doctors and such to monitor this strain, just like they do all the others. There's no evidence to expect this strain to cause any more mortality than normal. (About half a million people die annually from flu.) There's no evidence that this strain will be any more lethal than any other, based on reports so far, and no evidence that its mutant progeny will be any more deadly than existing strains of flu.

Sensational _reporting_, regardless of the topic, generates revenue for the reporting companies, and the experts they hire. Panic gives bureaucrats leverage for increased funding and staffing. There's money to be made and empires to be built. And after Katrina, our government is loath to appear to be doing nothing.