Just finished watching the 9 & 10 oclock news  all four channels in El Paso, TX report increases in the sales of bottled water, camp stoves and fuel, as well as increased sales of gasoline for vehicles. Again, sales of guns and ammo were featured.

Still no reports on the police departments (and county jail) computer outage. As of this moment I dont know if its still down or up again. I emailed a friend who used to work for the PD. She says the jails computer was linked to the PDs and that when one went down it often took the other with it. The question becomes are these normal crashes or Y2K crashes? Whichever it is, virtually the entire police department is going to be on duty when the ball (in El Paso TEXAS its going to be a five pointed star) drops at midnight.

One curious note, although I saw a woman walk out of my credit union with a stack of $100 bills thicker than my hand the other day, local bankers are still going on camera claiming no unusual withdrawals on the day before New Years Eve. Well, they got no unusual withdrawals from me  I got my digital dollars out of their computers and into hard goods months ago.

Along the same line, those who *have been* preparing are not, I suspect, the ones buying all that water and stuff now. Over the past six months Ive sold close to 200 fifty-five-gallon barrels at my store. Pareto's law seems to apply here. About 80% of the barrels were purchased by 20% of the barrel customers. I dont expect those people to be in the lines at local stores now.

This, to me, points up the difference between stocking up and hoarding. When I filled the gas tanks on my wifes car and one of the company trucks last week I was stocking up on a readily available product. Tomorrow when I top off the diesel some might consider it hoarding a product thats in increasingly short supply. Ill lookem in the eye and reply How can that possibly be? Our president has said its nothing just a bump in the road. He wouldnt lie to us would he?

-- David Craig (DesertDave@aol.com), December 31, 1999

Answers

I am a little alarmed by the pride you seem to take in withdrawing all of your "digital dollars". Wish you wouldn't have done that. You may be fine, but only at the expense of others. The best policy is to withdrawn a small cash emergency reserve but leave the majority in the bank. Pulling out all of our money will only result in bank runs and possible foundering of the whole American economy. Please -everybody just take a deep breath and try not to think only of your own welfare, but about the welfare of others. To do otherwise is to display a lack of fortitude and character, and to victimize the elderly, the poor who couldn't afford to prepare, the urbanite, etc. I hate to see comments like these about the woman carrying the stack of 100's. Let's not be part of the snowballing paranoia which serves as an impetus for others to do as this guy has done. Downright cowardly if you ask me.

-- Dudley Carroll (treyandjoy@netscape.net), December 31, 1999.

I can't believe that you honestly believe that people who understand even to a small degree the dangers and difficulties that may lie ahead, should leave their hardearned In the Bank????? As if all the money is in there? If some people want to be stupid, why should I knowingly volunteer to join their ranks? Hubby took whatever we had out months ago.

-- Pramada (pram108@yahoo.com), December 31, 1999.

Dudley, if you want to leave your money in the bank, go ahead. I agree with you that pulling money out in a panic rush NOW is probably a very bad idea. Yes, if we all did it, the system would certainly collapse. However, someone such as myself who moved their finances into tangible items some months ago have absolutely NO impact on the financial systems of today. The problem is not that people want to use their money. The funds are still there electronically. It's when they want their money in folding stock RIGHT NOW that the problem arises. There is just not enough folding money to satisfy the desires of each depositor......and there never was.

I for one expect the banks to stay in operation in the US at least. Germany??? Japan????? Well, I have no funds available to me in yen or marks anyway. What I dread is the interconnectedness of the system. If Germany or Japan tanks, the US will hit the mat along with them.

-- Lobo (atthelair@yahoo.com), December 31, 1999.