As if the economy is not causing enough trouble, we now have this over-inflated threat of swine flu. Even the Vice President of the United States (often known for winning the foot-in-his-mouth award) has suggested avoiding the subway, crowded places and other people. He particularly fears flying. Hogwash! In order to gain more viewers, TV news channels have made this the hot topic, while people continue to suffer from lack of travel and even more reduced spending. Now that’s a great stimulus plan, Mr. Biden! This panic for naught has caused great hardship. GT‘s local representative in Mexico City tells me that some of the resort hotels are at 10 percent occupancy rates. People who need to work to feed their families are now in a serious situation. How does this help our border situation? I am shocked that I have had very intelligent people ask me about flying or wearing a mask while on a plane! Five to 15 percent of the U.S. population will contract the regular, everyday influenza in a typical year. 30,000 to 50,000 people in the United States will die from the flu every year. Wow, so why are we up in arms over swine flu, which appears to be far weaker? It’s hype! And as far as travel is concerned, I’ll take the flip side of the argument. The cause of the pandemic flu of 1918-1919 was isolation. Anywhere from 20 to 50 million people lost their lives globally — 650,000 in the United States alone. Lack of travel keeps people isolated and keeps bodies unfamiliar with foreign strains. The more exposed we become makes us stronger and less likely to succumb to these unfamiliar strains in the long run. Perhaps we should be applauding global travel as the reason this swine flu outbreak is not more deadly. -Fran Gallagher, publisher and CEO