Y2K Update 02/22/99

Y2K minus 313

This edition of Grizzly’s Growlings is the second installment looking away from Wall Street and the White House for a moment and toward how things are shaping up for the rollover to the New Millennium.

Click here to review the January 11^th report, which explores exactly what is this so-called Y2K bug, and why some think we may be in trouble, deep trouble.

This week we’ll discuss what the powers-that-be have to say on the subject, and then conclude with a look at the lighter side of Y2K.

Whatever it is, the potential Y2K crisis was not invented by a cabal of book publishers, dehydrated food processors, diesel generator manufacturers, gold bugs, militia survivalists, or even end-of-the-world religious zealots. These unlikely bedfellows are merely attempting to capitalize on the situation. This is what a Free Market, and a Free Press, are all about. It’s up to each of us, as responsible citizens, to judge for ourselves the merits of their arguments and prognostications.

If the Y2K problem is not at least potentially extremely serious:

• Why did the American Red Cross, not exactly a bastion of radical subversives and revolutionaries, issue a rather casual preparedness advisory eleven months before Y2K? And don’t think for a minute that the Red Cross issued this "public service announcement" on its own. You can bet that former Red Cross president Elizabeth Dole exercised every one of her political connections (or maybe they were pulling her strings?) by holding extensive and intensive discussions with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), and probably a dozen other alphabet soup agencies, commissions, and blue-ribbon panels.

• Why did Sir Alan of Greenspan and his disciples at the Federal Reserve announce last month that they will be printing and distributing an extra $50 billion in cold hard cash to its member banks in advance of January 1, 2000? Why? Because 42% of respondents to a CNN poll stated that they plan to have extra cash on hand, "just in case."

• Why did the New York Times report that almost half of the nation’s local governments have not even started on their Y2K repairs?

• Why are new state laws being passed that grant immunity to insurance companies and financial institutions from punitive damages in any Y2K-related lawsuits?

• Why are more than half of big American corporations not complying with Y2K disclosure mandates of the Securities and Exchange Commission? Are they so far behind in their remediation efforts that will not voluntarily tell us where they stand? Arthur Levitt, Chairman of the SEC, has warned that "if investors do not have sufficient information regarding a company’s Y2K readiness, confidence could be undermined and panic and overreaction could ripple through the economy."

• Why has Russia asked for a $3 billion loan to get the computers controlling its nuclear arsenal up to snuff?

• Why did President Clinton last December make the very carefully crafted statement: "The Social Security system is now 100% compliant with our standards and safeguards?" Why, or more importantly how, did the General Accounting Office recently give the social Security Administration a big fat "F" for its compliance efforts?

• Why are the US and Canadian national mints, despite relatively low gold prices, unable to keep up with demand for gold and silver coins?

• And why did all these people say these things (as reported by The Y2K Money Machine)?

"Inevitable difficulties are going to emerge. You could end up with a very large problem." Alan Greenspan.

"...10 percent of the nation’s top executives are stockpiling canned goods, buying generators and even purchasing handguns." The New York Times (October 1998)

"I would like to warn that we have cause for fear. For the failure to address the millennium bug could be catastrophic" Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, October 7, 1998.

"National Guard units around the country are being trained to deal with phone system outages and other chaos that could result from computer crashes when the year 2000 begins." CNN News, February 18, 1999.

"I am generally concerned about the possibility of power shortages...pay attention to the things that are vulnerable in your life and make contingency plans." Senator Robert Bennett

"Healthcare, education, agriculture, construction, food processing, governments...are lagging way behind in compliance efforts. Many of these will simply not finish critical systems by 2000" Gartner Group research testimony to the Senate, October 1998.

"Our nation is in danger of being plunged into a catastrophic economic recession (depression) with severe business disruptions..." U.S. Representative Constance Morella, October, 1998.

"This is not a prediction, it is a certainty-there will be serious disruption in the world’s financial services industry...it’s going to be ugly." The Sunday Times, London

"We’re concerned about the potential disruption of power grids, telecommunications and banking services" Sherry Burns, CIA

"Fears of Y2K panic have prompted the federal government to begin quietly preparing a media strategy designed to assuage public fears of blackouts or other potential infrastructure failures. John Koskinen, assistant to President Clinton and chairman of the White House's Y2K council, has entered into discussions with a public-relations firm, Wired News has learned. The firm has recommended conducting awareness surveys and honing a ‘stay-calm’ message based on the results." January 26, 1999, Wired News

Indeed, no matter how  the Y2K drama unfolds, let’s not take it all so seriously that we can’t laugh our way into the next millennium. Visit our "Fotley Mule" page for a compilation of the best Y2K humor zipping across the Internet.

Stay tuned!

 Grizzly
Please read the disclaimer.

to Grizzly's Growlings' Archives

back to bearmarketcentral home