Latest excuse:

The Federal Reserve Bank, in this week's Beige Book, cited the potentially lethal Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome as a major factor in stalling the country's economic recovery.

SARS could deliver a devastating blow to the already sputtering U.S. economy, experts predict.

Imagine if production started to come back to the USA because the factories in the Orient had were shutting down from SARS measures. Wonder what kind of "blow" that would be to the US economy?

SARS could deliver a devastating blow to the already sputtering U.S. economy, experts predict.

You mean, like this?

... could affect economy ...

Gee, ya think?

The same virus that is the common cold but it kills four out of ten. In third world countries that will be double or triple. How many times have you caught a cold in your life? We have the same odds of avoiding this virus. Yeah it's going to affect the economy all right. Big time. But how important is the economy when you are dead?

It will take a couple years to sweep the planet but then it will probably mutate just like the flu does and come around again. And again. It does not look good.

sorry ... four out of one hundred.

There are multiple common cold viruses. People catch colds over and over. There haven't been any reports of anyone coming down with SARS twice. Yet.

Air travel to Pacific destinations plummeted 39.6 percent, while transatlantic travel dropped 25.8 percent - with ATA president James May citing "the weak economy and concerns over SARS" for the slump.

And, o'course, this has nothing to do -- for those shills of an industry in bed with government -- with the police State and breast-groping instituted in all airports. Soon to be expanded to running your credit report if you want to fly. That has had NO effect, and has turned NOBODY toward teleconferencing and road-rubber instead.

... Yeah, right.

I'm still keeping a close eye on the situation. I'm focusing on the media -- how frequently they are reporting and what kind of spin and hype they are adding to the SARS stories. The war reporting made me realize that the (all) media is completely in bed (embedded) with the government.

Right now, they are increasing their reports and we are hearing more stories although they aren't hyping it much. No dire predictions of doom and they are still reporting it as an "over there" story.

When they start reporting on SARS cases here and start adding in a tone of seriousness and breathless concern, then we see how it develops from that point.

So far, it is looking like an excuse da boyz are keeping on the shelf until needed. Washington and Wall Street don't want to be blamed for the bad economy and empty recovery promises, so it is very important to keep a good excuse at hand. Just maybe, this is something they hadn't counted on though. How the media plays it will tell us.

Richard W.