Like you, I don't have TV. I don't even take a newspaper. What little I've seen is on a quick break at work. And what the news media puts out is ... um... well, probably it could best be described as fear-mongering: lots of speculation, few facts.

From the report at the site that PaulK posted in the Survival Forum (http://www.bmonesbittburns.com/economics/reports/20051011/dont_fear_fear.pdf ), I don't think it's a "purge of the poor" as much as it is simple shortsightedness and lack of preparation. The U.S. doesn't have any place in this country that produces vaccines, it's all foreign-made. And the few places (6) that do make vaccines simply aren't capable of producing large amounts of vaccine in a short period of time.

That report says it takes approx. 6 months to produce a certain flu vaccine, and the producers aren't capable of grossly upsizing production for at least a year if they started today (which I'm sure they aren't). So, I can't see any way that the production capacity could keep up with the spread of the disease if a pandemic started tomorrow.

And the places that make the meds (Tamiflu & .. Relenza?) can't make enough fast enough, either. I'm not even sure that they know if it's effective enough, or would be administered quickly enough, to do what would be required on a worldwide basis. The disease is reported to hit fast and hard. Would it be diagnosed fast enough to make the medication effective?

And there is another problem that my cynical self foresees: If the disease mutates as they think it might, and obviously starts to spread, how are businesses going to react to it? Do you think they will insist that if any of their workers feel ill they must not come to work? Do most of the American wage-earners feel that they have enough of a financial cushion to stay home if they're not absolutely, positively certain that they have the disease? Will unecessary businesses voluntarily close down to prevent the spread of the disease?

My personal opinion would be No, No, and No. America's god is money. Greed runs the country. It doesn't matter if greed-induced decisions kill the workers, kill the company and cause a worldwide economic depression.

If you haven't read that report, you probably should. Even if not wholly accurate in its predictions, it's still an interesting read. And it starts at the beginning, and follows the problem quite logically, I thought.

Sue