Pandemic puts

Peacenik has been concentrated on the health effect of the swine flu pandemic, whether or not the funeral industry is able to handle a surge in flu related fatalities (it can't), whether or not there will be mass burials (there will be), etc. Peacenik hasn't been thinking about the economic, financial impact. But Garth Turner has.

By Garth Turner

Lining up for flu shots

On a highway not too far from the bunker is a yard where a local bus company keeps its rigs. These guys make their money in the charter business. You know, hauling old ladies to the casino, providing transportation for conventions, trucking tourists from the airport to Niagara Falls.

In the yard are tie-ups for about 30 buses.

One summer day in 2003 I was driving by, and noticed that every slot has a bus sitting idle. Then I heard that most drivers had been laid off. If bus rentals were a measure of economic activity, we were in trouble.

Read on...