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Y2K: What the Experts Say

News/Current Events Opinion (Published) Keywords: Y2K Source: Various Published: June 22, 1999 Posted on 06/22/1999 06:47:15 PDT by Dog Gone

"I cannot be optimistic and I am generally concerned about the possibility of power shortages. Supermarket supplies may be disrupted....It's clear we can't solve the whole problem, so we have to allow some systems to die so mission-critical systems can work.... Pay attention to the things that are vulnerable in your life and make contingency plans.... Don't panic, but don't spend too much time sleeping, either." - Senator Robert Bennett, Chairman of the Senate's Special Committee on the Year 2000 Problem

"We're no longer at the point of asking whether or not there will be any power disruptions, but we are now forced to ask how severe the disruptions are going to be..." - U.S. Senator Chris Dodd, June 12, 1998.

"In a worst case scenario for a city or town, authorities could face the failure of the power plant, the water treatment plans and transit systems" - John Koskinen, White House Year 2000 chief.

"Let's stop pretending that Y2K isn't a major threat to our way of life. There is too much at stake for such uninformed wishful thinking."- Dr. Ed Yardeni, Managing Director & Chief Economist, Deutche Bank; Keynote address to Bank for International Settlements

"Such a worldwide recession could last at least 12 months starting in January 2000, and it could be at least as severe as the 1973-74 global recession. That downturn was caused by the OPEC oil crisis, which is a useful analogy for thinking about the potential economic consequences of Y2K. Just as oil is a vital resource for our global economy, so is information. If the supply of information is disrupted, many economic activities will be impaired, if not entirely halted." - Edward Yardeni, Chief Economist of Deutsche Morgan Grenfell, June, 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

"Failure to achieve compliance with the year 2000 will jeopardize our way of life on this planet for some time to come."" - Arthur Gross, Chief Information Officer, IRS

"The whole financial system of the United States will come to a halt. It's very serious. It not only could happen, it will happen if we don't fix it right... We have a very thin margin of tolerance to make this whole thing work. There's no plan B."- Charles Rossotti, Internal Revenue Commissioner, USA TODAY, April 2, 1998

"The public faces a high risk that critical services provided by the government and the private sector could be severely disrupted by the year 2000 computing crisis. Financial transactions could be delayed, flights grounded, power lost, and national defense affected." - General Accounting Office, U.S. Congress

"More than one-third of the most important [government] systems won't be fixed in time." - House Panel Y2K report, September 1998

"We're concerned about the potential disruption of power grids, telecommunications and banking services. It will affect us in ways in which we can barely understand" - Sherry Burns, CIA

"A few months ago people were talking about seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. Now the only hope is keeping the world economy from total deterioration. And you get a sense that it is all now truly left to Adam Smith's invisible hand--it's beyond any country's ability, and institution's ability to control." - Jeffrey Garten, Dean, Yale School of Management

"...10 percent of the nation's top executives are stockpiling canned goods, buying generators and even purchasing handguns." - The New York Times, Oct. 1998

"The world is working its way through a very difficult period. The circumstances and issues are unprecedented, very complex. People who look for easy answers and guarantees are misguided. (These problems) do not lend themselves to black-and-white views." - -Robert Rubin, Secretary of the Treasury, Fortune Magazine, Sept. 28, 1998

"It's far too late, and things are far too bad, for pessimism." -- Dee Hock, Founder, Visa International

"After studying the potential impact of Y2K on the telecommunications industry, health care, economy, and other vital sectors of our lives, 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

"On a personal level, [Canadian Y2K guru Peter] de Jager said every household in North America ought to maintain a normal level of sufficiency for any disaster, about two to three weeks of food, supplies and a generator." - from a report in the (U.S.) Evansville Courier And Press on the "Are You Y2K Okay?" seminar sponsored by the Metropolitan Evansville Chamber of Commerce in May, 1999.

"Suddenly, those individuals who have insisted that they will be withdrawing all their cash from the bank before the end of the year do not seem quite so misguided. The prospect of the millennium bug eating your savings may be more than just the nightmare of overactive imaginations. At a high-powered millennium meeting in Washington recently, delegates were stunned to hear Henry Kissinger announce that he intended to withdraw all his money from the bank as 2000 nears." - 'Headaches Start As Bug Bears Down On Banks', THE TIMES, London, March 20th, 1999.

"I understand that the commercial fuel industry is facing a Y2K challenge in their refinery operations. Some reports state that only 30% of their refineries will be renovated by January 1, 2000." - from a question and answer exchange between, among others, Senator Strom Thurmond and a Dr. Harris, of the Pentagon, at a meeting of the U.S. Congressional Supplier Capability Working group.

"...while both government and business have worked hard to correct the Y2K problem, their efforts began late and remain insufficient, and consequently some incalculable level of economic disruption is inevitable...this problem will affect us all individually and collectively in very profound ways. It will indeed impact individual businesses and the global economy. In some cases, lives could even be at stake... [stockpiling] extra food and water in the event of temporary shortages may also be advisable...The international situation will be more disturbing. Those who suggest that it will be nothing more than a 'bump in the road' are simply misinformed...[Y2K is] one of the most serious and potentially devastating events this nation has ever encountered. It deserves our top priority." - U.S. Senate Year 2000 Study, February, 1999.

"But, I can tell you this. Because of other information that has come to me... I am convinced that there has been a conscious decision in a number of countries to not inform the people. (i.e. to not panic the people). Even in North America, with its free press, the information will not go out. This is less understandable. Will they tell us that the "responsible" thing is to not panic the public? Is it just 'denial' that these things are true? Is it because they don't want to upset revenue, such as from advertisers?" - Bruce Beach, Radiological Scientific Officer, Canada, and coordinator of the Y2K TEAM Network, May 1999.

"If, for example, there is a municipality that is unable to distribute welfare checks, there could be some civil unrest that could come out of that. If, uh, if there was a disruption in the food supply, and food didn't get in, in a uh, distributive kind of way--that it was concentrated in one part of the city, but not in another--that could be a situation that could create some civil unrest...The dire predictions will probably be fulfilled, but on a sporadic basis, place by place. If you're in one of those places, the fact that the, uh, overall system works is not gonna be very comforting to you. But we would be irresponsible if we were to say, 'There are no problems, everything's under control,' because there's still a lot of work to be done." - Senator Robert Bennett, interviewed on CBS' 60 MINUTES, May 23, 1999.

"We think there will be some disruptions, and we think they will be localized in many cases, uh, if the supply chain works--that's a big 'if'--if power works, if gas works, if uh, uh--Bell Atlantic works, if people who supply groceries to the inner city work, if pharmaceutical companies make enough pharmaceuticals, if, uh, people should hoard things, all of those are big 'ifs'..." - Mary Ellen Hanley, Washington D.C.'s Year 2000 Program Manager, interviewed on CBS' 60 MINUTES, May 23, 1999.

"Italy is going to crash, and we are going to be crucified'" - headline in THE TIMES, London, May 14, 1999, over a story on lack of Italian Y2K preparation.

"Army Fears Civil Chaos From Millennium Bug: Armed Forces Gearing Up To Deal With Civil Chaos" - GLOBE AND MAIL, Toronto, Oct 27, 1998

-- helium (heliumavid@yahoo.com), June 22, 1999