BBC NEWS | Americas | WHO raises pandemic alert level

If I wasn't so level headed, I might think that the press/governments are trying disparately to distract us from the pending global depression - that they are causing. Remember, 36,000 people die from the flu or complications every year in the US alone (see post below). That's nearly 100 people a day in one country on average. Why isn't that called a pandemic every year? I'm pretty sure that the flu strain is the same every where in the world for the season. Evidently, the markets like it. Surprisingly, the Dow is up over 2%. Maybe investors are thinking that if we are all running around crazy then we'll spend like crazy trying to avoid getting the Ms. Piggy flu and, snap, the economy is back on track, just like WWII did it. That's not going to work, WWII was real, so far this is not a real pandemic. But I bet there are some in power who are hoping it is just for that reason. BBC NEWS | Americas | WHO raises pandemic alert level: "The UN's World Health Organization has raised the alert over the spread of swine flu to level five - one short of a full-blown pandemic."