A lot of people like to blame bad mortgages for the financial meltdown, but that was just the beginning of what makes this recession unlike others. The real damage was that big financial institutions were using mechanisms like this guy's software and David Li's formulas to leverage mortgage and bond funds to insane proportions (like in some instances, 20 to 1). When these supposedly safe financial instruments like collateralized debt obligations and credit swap defaults, which mixed good paper with bad, started to fail they took out hundreds of billions of value that was pretty much made up out of thin air by these speculative instruments. This money was of course propping up these firms so the inevitable result from losing so much value nearly overnight is collapse. Now it's taxpayer money propping up the same financial firms that caused all this, and they're STILL screaming for no new regulation!

Sorry if this is too simplistic but it took a banking executive with an MBA and Masters in statistics two hours to fully explain this to me and she still admitted she doesn't understand it fully. The problem was no one in the industry ever did.

And your dismissal of what is a little bit more than an "internet meme" does not preclude the fact that this is being taken very seriously by the WHO and other health care officials because of the rapid spread and the deaths are following the "W" mortality by age pattern that the 1918 flu did with the young and healthy hit the worst. Seeing statements like yours coupled with some of stories in the media (30,000 die of flu every year! Why is this so bad?) is undermining what should be considered a serious threat. If nothing happens, great! But if this does turn bad, I'd much rather have an early and credible response rather than a "wait and see" attitude.

That being said, I'm on my way to a crowded restaurant on public transport to have drinks with friends. I will take the precautions that I believe are prudent. I'll wash my hands an extra time.

The CEO's response makes mention of "anonymous sources" as being an issue with the article and mentions one interview subject as having posted "fake" reviews. He doesn't mention the other business named in the article that talk about being contacted by Yelp sales and given these terms. There are several mentioned.

This is coming from someone who has submitted a few Yelp reviews in myself. If this is Yelp's response I would have to say I'm still leery.