Senator Bennett has been waving a yellow caution flag recently in online news groups. Now he has gone mainstream. He thinks the US will be OK since most major US business's are hard at work remediating the Y2K bug. The worst he expects from us is loss of jobs due to a global recession. His major concern is developing nations. He see's a global catastrophe unless something is done for them via the UN.

I don't think he see's the dominio effect of infrastructure disruptions in countries that are in our power supply chain, if he does he does not address it. His article can be viewed at http://www.washtimes.com/opinion/ed3.html

-- Anonymous, January 31, 1999

Answers

Bill:

I read that article as well - it left me slightly confused. He submitted another article to 'y2ktoday' just two days prior which says something very different:

y2ktoday article can be viewed at:

www.y2ktoday.com/modules/news/newsdetail.asp?id=736&feature=true&type=

If you have any difficulty with that URL you can pull the article up using the News link on this site. You'll find it under January 27, 1999.

He appears to be doing a bit of back-peddling in the Washington Times article.

-- Anonymous, January 31, 1999

I'm noticing flip-flopping of opinion on the severity of the bug from top to bottom and within my own being. Maybe it's a basic struggle to guess it right. I don't know.

I think both articles are worth reading. Those who aren't going to prepare anyway will read in them what they already believe, i.e.; "no biggie..." others will undoubtedly read other things.

I'm seeing a very responsible approach to the situation that recommends I continue to prepare without fanning any sort of panic.  Here's an excerpt;

"Thanks to an abundance of resources and a highly skilled workforce, the U.S. will be among the nations best-prepared for the year 2000. Planes will not fall from the sky. Food shortages will be temporary. In most areas, but not all, lights will stay on, banks will have cash and phones will work"

Food shortages will be temporary? This is the United States he's talking about. Food shortages in the U.S. is a big deal to me and I'd expect by a historical measure as well.

We already suspected the part about the lights going out in some areas...

I'll continue to prepare and not panic, (except inside once in awhile and I'll sorta pretend I didn't ;-)).

Steve

-- Anonymous, January 31, 1999

bill,

as my father was fond of saying, "don't listen to what they say... watch what they do."

i have been following y2k for almost one year and i have read copiously what has been published by the gov't, major mass media, as well as the not so major media. also, i read ed yardeni, ed yourdon, peter dejaeger, y2k today, gary north etc. i receive daily newsalerts from a myriad of different sources, follow several forums, read csy2k, and am on several y2k preparedness sites.

what is the point of all the above?

i have read several places where senator bennett's daughter is stockpiling food in her garage and his nephew had a huge fuel tank deposited in his backyard. remember what my father said and come to your own conclusions.

also, around 2 months ago i noticed that the y2k paul reveres' started to tone down their horse and pony show. why? this is pure conjecture on my part, based on what i have read, but, i believe a significant amount of people started responding[check the polls for that period] by stockpiling, taking their money out of the bank, and talking openly about their concern.

remember, a significant amount of people does not necessarily have to be a high percentage of the population in order to have a negative impact on fractional reserve banking or the cottage 'bulk food' industries.

this is approximately the same time the banks started to actively inform their clients 'not to worry.'

i believe that someone has made the decision to put the lid back on the kettle and has advised 'alarmists' to tone down their responses. i believe that the gov't is trying to buy some time at the expense of the populous.

koskinen's assistant also announced to a group of ministers in italy[shortly after the un meeting on y2k] that they were 'asking' the press to be 'responsible' in their coverage of y2k.

btw, my bank manager has purchased 2 generators and is currently stockpiling food...m

-- Anonymous, January 31, 1999

The vast majority of the public cannot do anything to fix Y2K. Giving them knowledge about the problem is useless. All they can do is cause food shortages, start hoarding supplies, send out useless status letters, pressure public officials, etc. That's why you will see an increasingly glossy even rosey tone to such public reports and comments. The goal now is to delay the start of such panic as long as possible.

-- Anonymous, January 31, 1999

Perhaps Senator Bennett is doing what he can to cope with several kinds of problems that occur when one tries to discuss a subject like Y2K which is complicated and which has potentially serious hazards, but they are not quantifiable, and they may be expected to hit some people harder than others.

In a short article, he cannot cover all the bases. In different articles, particularly for different audiences, he may wish to cover different aspects of the topic, keeping in mind that, if he gets to far ahead of a given article's audience, he may lose them.

Regarding the comments: "The vast majority of the public cannot do anything to fix Y2K. Giving them knowledge about the problem is useless. All they can do is cause food shortages, start hoarding supplies, send out useless status letters, pressure public officials ... etc":

I do not expect the vast majority of the public to prepare well in advance for an unprecedented problem, but I do not know in advance which individuals would prepare in advance if they had more pertinent information. The more people that do prepare in advance, the better it will be both for them and for some of those who did not. If there may be food shortages ahead, it may be better if they were to start while major parts of the supply chain have a chance to ramp up, rather than when the supply chain may have too many broken links to respond well.

Or so it seems to me. :-)

Jerry BB

-- Anonymous, January 31, 1999

Since when did they say the "The truth will tie you up?"

-- Anonymous, February 01, 1999