I recently read where the Red Cross issued a statement regarding their recommended list of preparations for Y2K, and which statement recommended that people obtain cash from their banks well before Y2K in order to avoid long bank lines. The statement omitted mention of any specific amount of cash to be withdrawn.

Since the Red Cross is not a government agency with any bureaucratic ax to grind, and is only in the business of helping all people prepare for or recover from disasters, such a statement would have great credibility to most people, although it can only make the banking establishment cringe.

Does anyone on this forum know of a URL which contains the exact statement issued by the Red Cross, and if so please post it? I want to take a copy of the statement to my bank manager to place in my file when I withdraw my own cash in the next several weeks. Should there later on arise any question as to why one would withdraw a large amount of cash, I believe reference to the official statement released by the Red Cross could prove helpful.

-- JSK (JSK@rmi.net), December 26, 1998

Answers

Here it is! http://www.redcross.org/disaster/safety/y2k.html

-- Caveman (Da@Cave.com), December 26, 1998.

One kinda the same note, if FEMA is to be feared, why are they also posting very helpful information on disaster preparation.

Even last night had some friends over who were wide eyed with fear when FEMA was mentioned. This is a quote from their web page; "If an earthquake, hurricane, winter storm or other disaster ever strikes your community, you might not have acess to food, water and electricity for days, or even weeks. By taking a little time now to store emergency food and water supplies, you can provide for your entire family. In the event of a military attack or some other national disaster, you may need long term emergency food supplies." www.fema.gov/library/emfdwtr.htm

Some of my friends and some of us on this forum have painted FEMA as an evil arm of the government. This could be true. All I know is that if I am hauled before a jury for "hoarding food" I will quote the source mentioned above as a motivating factor for my preparedness. What do you think.

Y2K and failed economies or not, it is my destiny to cut the birth cord and show myself and others that we(I) do not need to remain at societies teat. Fresh foods, fresh air, wholesome friends and a level of self-suffiency. I love it. ww

-- WAYNE WITCHER (WWITCHER@MVTEL.NET), December 26, 1998.

It's a sad state of affairs when law abiding citiznes of the USA have to worry about explaining to the goverment their need or desire to withdraw their own money from a bank!

-- S.Rathers (srathers@hotmail.com), December 26, 1998.

Right on Wayne. I don't see FEMA as a problem unless we have disruptions lasting for years. There is entirely too much militia type stuff being disbursed here for comfort. And they have always encouraged disaster prep.

-- Paul Davis (davisp1953@yahoo.com), December 26, 1998.

Amen! S. Rathers

-- gilda jessie (jess@listbot.com), December 26, 1998.

It seems to me that we all worry too much about how 'employees' of FEMA, the armed forces or some other federal (lower case, by the way) agency will conduct themselves in the event of catastrophic events... such as worst-case Y2K. We forget, I think, that the FEMA employee, the sailor and the FBI agent, has family that he or she will think of first if things get really bad... or if the paychecks stop coming. A full-blown meltdown will not discriminate or play favorites. How powerful is Bill Clinton if he has no army to do his bidding? How likely are members of our armed forces to turn their weapons upon their fellow Americans if the entire national fabric is coming apart? If the iron triangle falls apart--and stays that way for any appreciable length of time--offices of power and the potential of threat will have gone away.

-- Vic Parker (francisco@d'anconia.com), December 26, 1998.