Response From Mr. Way to my question about Banks being toast!!

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Below is Mr. Ways response to comments made 10days ago. I find the following comments interesting:

"we dont eat,drink etc. money" and also "forget all this technology crap! See what the real challenge is???

I inadvertantly put privatization instead of Nationalizing

In response to: -- d.b. (dciinc@aol.com), November 10, 1999:

Wow!!

Q1: It looks more and more like we will have power and utilities. Unfortunately and I do mean unfortunately it clearly looks as if Mr. Way is pointing very strongly towards the BACK ROOMS,OFFICES, economics et. Banks toast? Stock market? Insurance? Reserve? Forget about power and water. How is this country going to operate if none of the bookkeeping can be done or reconstructed when the systems in the back rooms fail.

A1: We have longer to deal with it before it really bites. Systems will unlikely collapse, just run intermittently and at a slower rate overall. There are temporary arrangements we can make, if necessary. We do not eat, drink or breath money and bills. No question that is important and there will be impacts. But the banks, markets et al will not become toast.

Q2: You mean this may all come down to people being honest about what they owe or are owed?? HONESTY!!!

A2: It may. Then we can figure on the usual break down: 20% selfish and venal, 20% altruistic and noble, and the 60% middle going which ever way the wind blows strongest. Forget all this technology crap. See what the real challenge is??

Q3: I smell government privatization, how about you!!

A3: I smell government doing everything it can to keep things going until we get through this, including keeping everybody calm through the rollover.

-- db (dciinc@aol.com), November 20, 1999

Answers

Let me get this: Way is forseeing the possibility of not being able to rely on the banking system, but thinks things will workout because everybody will just give everyone else I.O.U.s??????? This is so ignorant it is barely worth responding to.

I buy something from you using an I.O.U. You need to buy something so you give my I.O.U. to your neighborhood grocer. In turn, he is supposed to take my I.O.U. and use it to pay his rent. The landlord is then going to take my I.O.U. and buy something. (Unbeknownst to all of you, I have no money.)

ARE YOU KIDDING???????

But now, let's everyone remain calm. And no need to stock up on cash, since our I.O.U.s will work just fine...

-- King of Spain (madrid@aol.cum), November 20, 1999.

Aren't IOU's what we use now?

-- GoldReal (GoldReal@aol.com), November 20, 1999.

Silly me.

I forgot this was "perception makes reality."

(Palm to forehead...walks away.)

-- GoldReal (GoldReal@aol.com), November 20, 1999.


C'mon guys,

Get a grip.

If the grid stays up, everything else can be fixed.

-- givin (me@headache.now), November 20, 1999.


If the grid stays up, everything can be fixed? Yeah, but how long will it take and what about problems with oil and other utilities, like water, gas, and sewer? The grid is extremely important, but it's not the only threat out there.

-- Ohio Bob (ohiobob@buckeyestate.com), November 21, 1999.


Ohio Bob,

No, the grid isn't the only threat. There are many others. But--and I defer to Peter de Jager here--the time has come for all of us to understand that the global awareness level has been raised to the point that most people KNOW they could be facing trouble.

Thank God.

-- givin (me@headache.now), November 21, 1999.


givin,

Thanks for the laugh! I can see it clearly. I'm in my car doing 75 mph; I'm going down a hill that has a cliff at the bottom; my brakes have just given out. I "KNOW that there could be trouble." The $64 question: do I bail or ride the car off the cliff? Just "knowing" that the car is going to end up a twisted scorched wreck in the gully does not equate to solving the problem!!! Again, thanks for the chuckle - I'm sure it was inadvertent.

-- rob minor (rbminor@hotmail.com), November 21, 1999.


givin, with respect, "most" kids in the USA can't find their own country on a map, and "most" kids in the UK leave school with no qualifications. So even if "most" people are even aware of the possibility of trouble (which I doubt), how many of them will have the insight to have considered that (when/if the shit hits the fan) that it's only community spirit and altruism that will get "most" of us through? And if they haven't thought it through yet, how clear will their minds be when their wages don't arrive in January and their families are hungry?

-- Colin MacDonald (roborogerborg@yahoo.com), November 22, 1999.

Colin, how do you know people do not already assume that collective self interest will prevail if TSHTF. I was in UK recently and asked around a few relatives and friends, all aware of Y2K, none actually making personal preps. When I asked why, if they were aware of the potential for personal problems, they are not making personal preparations, all of them answered that, well, people will just have to pull together until it gets sorted out. The one thing they were unanimous on was that they did not an American type individualistic free-for-all. Fortunately for them, the civilian population is unarmed in the UK, so there isn't the same sense of personal danger from strangers. Mad Max, if he arrives, is likely to be on a bicycle, armed only with a rolled up newspaper. Seriously, most people I've spoken to on Y2K possible impacts, in the UK and here on the European continent, assume that they have a social system and non-technical infrastructure, paid for with their taxes, which will if necessary be invoked should the need arise. Perhaps they are being optimistic about how much it could cope with, but the British are quite philosophical about TSHTF scenarios. There are just so many stop-gap measures that could be put in place to see us through worst case scenarios. Most remember the three-day working week and any number of regional or nationwide infrastructure related strikes, some going on for months (remember the army green fire trucks during the fireman strike, the waste disposal strikes, innumerous miner strikes). There's still a generation alive today that can remember the second- world war and the ravages and responses that brought. Very few people died on UK soil due to infrastructure related problems during the war, despite the ferocity of German bombing, with nightly blackouts.

How Y2K, even if it gets really bad, will be different depending on the level of development, social and political culture of a country. As many people have pointed out on this forum, albeit rather disparagingly, local and national representative government in European countries is much more interventionist in Europe. More importantly, people are used to it and expect it when it is needed. In most European countries, including the UK, collectivist and socialist political cultures are not considered anathema. It will be easier for people to organise in these countries than in those countries for whom individual rights take precedence over the collective welfare of the population as a whole. I've not seen a socialist take on Y2K so far (most socialists I know are technical ignoramuses). The running (on this forum at least) has been dominated by an 'us' and 'them' mentality. If TSHTF big enough, then my hope is that we will at last see some strict, global, regulatory control over standards used to build and operate our critical infrastructures. Call it socialist if you want. For me it is common sense.

-- Pinko (slkjd@alkdjd.com), November 23, 1999.


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