USA Today -- Survey: Y2K woes won't sink econom
usatoday.com
For what it's worth :-)
[...]
But the nation's top economists aren't convinced the so-called Y2K problem will have a major impact on economic growth, says a quarterly USA TODAY survey conducted Sept. 18-22.
[...]
John Wilson, chief economist at San Francisco-based Bank of America, says Y2K could have a major impact on key sectors, including transportation, finance and electric utilities.
But Y2K "just isn't going to gut the economy," Wilson says, because companies in those sectors are already focused on being ready.
[...]
I have no question that we're going to have very unusual things occurring," Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan told federal lawmakers last week.
A growing minority of experts say Greenspan and most economists are underestimating the scope of the problem. They insist the problems could push the global economy into recession in 1999 or the following year.
[ Huh? I thought the global economy was ALREADY in recession from other causes :-) ]
In late June, Ed Yardeni, chief economist of Deutsche Bank Securities in New York, raised to 70% the odds of a global recession triggered by Y2K problems in 2000. "Let's stop pretending that Y2K isn't a major threat to our way of life," Yardeni wrote in assessing the potential problems.
[...] |
