Captain Kirk: On Sunday, Brinker alluded to the Y2K problem
as "a natural disaster which will occur at a known time" or similar.
Though a conversation yesterday with a retired programmer and
troubleshooter familiar with the antique languages inspired no-
thing but dread regarding Y2K, it would seem that no one, not
even Brinker nor anyone else, can foretell with certainty what
events will befall us or how the world will have changed come
1 January 2000. On the other hand, as echoed here, "perception,
to the markets, is all," and there is little doubt that fortunes can
be made by gauging how the popular mind will eventually re-
spond marketwise, prior to the turn of the millennium, to this
oncoming "natural disaster."
In any case, as this inevitable event carries with it the capacity
of causing possible dislocations and anomalous breaches in the
financial and industrial infrastructure and discordancy within the
division of labor, prudence alone would dictate that preparations
be made lest the worst possible case ensues. "Prudence," as often
heard, "is the best insurance policy." If this Y2K problem yields
but little bitter fruit, as we all hope, we can celebrate the wisdom
of Samuel Johnson, to wit, "when any calamity has been suffered,
the first thing to be remembered is how much has been escaped." |
