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To: Ron Wilkinson who wrote (4299)	12/15/1997 5:13:00 PM
From: Bucky Katt	Respond to of 116756

RW- Another point to consider is the simple fact that I doubt congress will approve the "pledge" of support of $4 billion of US taxpayer money for the bailout. So, you have to ask, what will happen if S. Korea has total self destruction? What role will China and Japan play? This whole thing reminds me of the savings and loan scam some years back. It all goes back to cheap, easy money. The only way out is to inflate. Another thing to cogitate on is this-- If you have X tons of gold, and can lend it out at 4-7%, you are getting 4-7X more return on your "holding" than if you owned the S+P for yield. I use this example to show how far from reality the S+P valuations have gotten. So, then the problem is what happens if/when all this shorted/borrowed gold becomes a demand to take on the long side? And this story tells the future>>The U.S. military said Monday it will vaccinate all 2.4 million active and reserve troops against the deadly anthrax biological agent to prepare for future warfare and potential terrorist attacks. Defense Secretary William Cohen said he made the decision after a study showed a proven vaccine was the safest way to protect the military against airborne anthrax spores that are 99 percent lethal in unprotected individuals. The immunizations, requiring six shots over 18 months followed by annual booster shots, will begin next summer with 100,000 American troops in the Gulf region and Korean peninsula. The Pentagon says Iraq and North Korea already have developed anthrax -- a disease carried by cattle and sheep -- into a weapon that can be mounted on artillery shells or sprayed from aircraft. Defense officials estimated it would take nearly seven years and cost $130 million to immunize all troops against anthrax. "This is a force protection issue," Cohen said in an announcement released by the Defense Department. "To be effective, medical force protection must be comprehensive, well-documented and consistent. I have instructed the military to put such a program in place." When inhaled, anthrax spores cause death in five days from massive pneumonia and breakdown of blood vessels and organs unless the victim has been vaccinated. Recent studies have shown that the military and America's civilian emergency community in general were lagging in their ability to respond to attack by chemical and biological agents, a potential which the Pentagon says Iraq and a number of other nations now have. Defense officials stressed that the vaccine to be used beginning next summer was not a "live" vaccine and thus would not itself pose a potential danger to soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines. "The side effects could include perhaps in some instances feeling like you have a mild case of flu," one official told Reuters. Anthrax has been around in cattle for hundreds of years and the vaccine is currently licensed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. It has been used in the United States since the early 1970s by livestock workers and veterinarians. The military currently immunizes people working in at-risk jobs, including some 3,000 personnel assigned to special operations units. Members of a unit recently established by the Marine Corps to respond to chemical and biological emergencies have received the vaccine. Beginning in the summer, the vaccine will initially be administered to approximately 100,000 military personnel assigned or deployed to the "high threat" areas of Southwest Asia and Northeast Asia (the Gulf and Korean peninsula), the Pentagon said. Defense officials said that, beginning in about the fourth year of the program, all new military recruits will begin receiving the shots. After the initial shot, subsequent injections are given in two weeks, four weeks and at three six-month intervals. Annual boosters follow to preserve immunity.