Part 1 (18Oct1999)

Part II (25Oct1999)

-- a (a@a.a), October 26, 1999

Answers

From Part II:

I start my Year 2000 speeches by discussing why the major media and politicians inherently cannot take any fixed-date future event seriously. Simply stated, the majority of the economy concerns non-essential goods. If government and the media urged serious preparations for any fixed-date future event, whether it is Year 2000 or a comet-impact threat, the essential goods industries would be so swamped with orders that they would not bother advertising anymore. Meanwhile, the bulk of the economy would lose people's discretionary income and stop advertising, as the return on advertising expenditures would be negative. Therefore, the more the media warns about such an event, the quicker it risks going into bankruptcy.

-- a (a@a.a), October 26, 1999.

From: Y2K, ` la Carte by Dancr (pic), near Monterey, California

a: Yes. That's it. I noted elsewhere how incredibly DOA the media has been on this issue. So what do we do about this? Just place all our faith in the internet? Internet sites, too, are becoming increasingly dependent upon advertising revenue.

Personally, I have long ago stopped getting the bulk of my own information from mainstream media. I get a variety of magazines which are supported mainly by subscription (though some of them also have advertising). But, even Mother Earth News does a bad job of covering Y2K.

-- Dancr (addy.available@my.webpage), October 26, 1999.