USA TODAY article by Elizabeth Weise,Sunday Feb. 14 "...As for the money supply, banks are the most heavily regulated industry in the country, said John Koskinen chairman of the Presidents Council on Year 2000 Conversion in Washington D.C. They get ratings of 97 percent to 98 percent compliance in every survey he`s seen. So what j.k. is saying is that there`s 1000`s of banks about 3 weeks away from 100 percent compliance.....it`d sure be nice to have some reporter call him on this. After all we can assume the banks are still `full steam ahead` to achieve 99++ percent (remember Greenspan). Now listen up i fully get it about y2k (7.8 minimum) i posted this so you can shred j.k. not me.

-- bud (bud@computers edge.com), February 14, 1999

Answers

Well, the Euro was a bigger job, and went through with FEWER errors than the last time new software was introduced. Haven't heard anything real that would keep them from finishing. Matter of fact, COBAL programmers are becoming a drug on the market again.

Remember, I told you months ago the flood of compliance statements would be starting soon, and would come to a peak between April and June.

-- Paul Davis (davisp1953@yahoo.com), February 14, 1999.

Of course, Paul doesn't mention the article found at

http://www.garynorth.com/y2k/detail_.cgm/3830

that reports the difficulty some European banks are REALLY having. The click through reference is in Dutch, so unless you can interpret it, best use North's. One person on csy2k who does speak Dutch agreed that it was a valid interpretation.

-- De (dealton@concentric.net), February 14, 1999.

I think this link (doesn't work for me, but I checked it at North's site) underscores what Paul Davis just said.

Here we have an article, available only in Dutch, explaining that some inter-bank transfers are having errors, which are being corrected. No customers have been inconvenienced. The problem isn't newsworthy in other countries. There is a temporary strain being put on a few banks.

For a major introduction of massive scope, this is amazingly minor. The Euro introduction must be considered a job well done indeed, everything considered. Let's hope y2k remediation goes so smoothly that the public is also not affected at all, even if IT departments everywhere are having nightmares for a while.

If y2k is only 50 times worse, we can all laugh at the Big Fizzle.

-- Flint (flintc@mindspring.com), February 14, 1999.

Flint,

Does this mean you're going to stop your preparations for Y2K?

-- Kevin (mixesmusic@worldnet.att.net), February 14, 1999.

The Euro has nothing whatsoever to do with y2k; the success or failure of the Euro tells us nothing whatsoever about y2k. Though the Euro was a very large software project, it is nowhere near as comprehensive and massive as global y2k conversion. If there had been major problems with the Euro that would not have, in itself, meant that we would be having major problems with y2k. It is nonsense for Paul to use the Euro to make any kind of valid point about y2k. The Euro had to do with internal banks in a handful of countries; y2k has to do with every computer system in every business, gov't agency and bank in the entire world. There is simply no comparison.

-- cody varian (cody@y2ksurvive.com), February 14, 1999.

Paul: how about some proof that COBOL programmers are becoming a drag on the market. Can you show us some documentation that there is a nationwide glut of COBOL programmers starting to occur?

-- cody varian (cody@y2ksurvive.com), February 14, 1999.

One interesting question about Europe, the Euro and y2k is this: Now that the Euro conversion is complete, are the programmers in Europe having to start on their y2k code remediation from scratch with less than a year to do the whole thing or was there any way to incorporate y2k compliance in with their Euro conversion? If they're just starting to do y2k work, Europe is essentially toast, and if Europe is toast (along with Asia, Africa and South America, then so are we, regardless of how compliant we are.

-- cody varian (cody@y2ksurvive.com), February 14, 1999.

Here's an article on why Euro success isn't an indicator of Y2K success:

http://www.y2ktimebomb.com/International/pobeirne9904.htm

"Lessons From the Euro Changeover"

-- Kevin (mixesmusic@worldnet.att.net), February 15, 1999.

Bud,

I found that article you quoted from. It has another quote in it even more important. According to this, John Koskinen claims it's impossible for the public to cause a bank run!

The article title, the link (I hope it works) and the quote...

"We shouldn't be left in the dark"

http://search2.usatoday.com/plweb- cgi/fastweb?state_id=919055114&view=default&docrank=3&numhitsfound=8&q uery=koskinen%20banks&query_rule=%28$query% 29&docid=5725&docdb=cyber&dbnam=all&operator=AND&TemplateName=predoc.t mpl&setCookie=1

As for the money supply, bamks are the most heavily regulated industry in the country, says John Koskinen, chair of the President's Council on Year 2000 Conversion in Washington, D.C. They get rating of 97 to 98% compliance in every survey he's seen.

"I joke with bankers that it's a testimony to the joys of federal regulation," Koskinen says. The Federal Reserve is prepared to put $50 billion more into circulation "just in case people want a couple of dollars. We can print more bills faster than they can take them out.

-- Kevin (mixesmusic@worldnet.att.net), February 15, 1999.