[Dan Evans]

Why would losing 1% of our population destroy the U.S? A lot of countries have lost a lot more than that and survived.

[No Surrender Monkey]

It's not a numbers thing. NYC is the financial center of the planet and a huge percentage of our major corporations are headquartered there.

[Neocon Shavuz]

US has the most market-driven economy in the world (Thank God for that!) and, as a result, most vulnerable to any shakes of consumer confidence.

America won't get destroyed by loss of life, but would get severely hurt by consequences of that.