Deep freeze on economy

The extreme cold can put a deep freeze on a lot of economic activity- airlines grounded, trains delayed- and forget eating out- so bad news for restaurants.

Even the government gets hit.

Scott Bernhardt, President of Planalytics:

SOUNDBITE: SCOTT BERNHARDT, PRESIDENT, PLANALYTICS (ENGLISH) SAYING:

"When it gets this cold, this extremely cold, things start breaking down and that's money to the state and local governments that they haven't necessarily budgeted. And they tend to budget their snow budget based on last year or the last couple of years but you are - This is the coldest it's been in 20 years and in an awful lot of major population centers."

And for the insurance industry- all the damage done to cars and homes- think burst pipes, fallen tries- these are often covered by insurance companies.

The Insurance Information Institute says severe winter weather is the third largest cause of insured catastrophes- and insurers pay an average of $1.4