Economies on Empty - NEWSWEEK article

Posted by James Briggs on December 13, 2003

In Reply to: Economies on Empty - NEWSWEEK article posted by sphinx on December 13, 2003

: SARS's unpredictability makes assessing its potential economic impact difficult. So far, most projections have assumed that the United States will stay relatively SARS-free and the rest of the world will get things under control by late May. But if those predictions turn out to be wrong and a major outbreak hits, say, Orlando, it could send the US economy plunging faster than the Space Mountain roller coaster. For SARS to have any real impact on GDP, though, it would have to cause
: a collapse in tourism to almost all parts of the United States, and that's never happened
: before. The upshot: no one in the world knows what to base predictions on.

: COuld you help me:
: 1.What does 'projection' mean?
: 2.'For SARS to have any real impact on GDP...'
: COuld you explain this difficult sentence?
: 'For something to do', could you give a few examples about this phrase?

1. Forecast
2, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome - the name given to the 'flu outbreak earlier this year that started to spread around the world. GDP = Gross Domestic Product, ie a Nation's gross yearly production of all things, goods services etc.
3.To find 'Something to do' is another way of finding a task to fill your time, often to stop boredom, but also often used as a reprimand by a boss when he spots an employee not working - 'haven't you got something to do?'Sometimes also 'haven't you got something better to do?'