Glickman and other witnesses at this Senate hearing were on CSPAN
yesterday.
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A somewhat more critical analysis of the hearing courtesy of csy2k--My comments upon reflection in brackets [].
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[by cbgb jr.]
I watched it with a friend who is on the fence concerning what may
happen with Y2K. She was panic stricken by the end of the hearing.
[I got that involuntary cold chill when Evans spoke.]
Here is why. While all (except one) of the presenters had a Pollyanna
story to tell in each case it crumbled under questioning by Senators (of
both parties).
It turns out most of the Pollyanna data is self-reported and not
independently verified. The Gartner Group apparently is getting paid
big bucks for taking the word of industry associations in press
releases.
(Hiring those clowns is a huge waste of the taxpayers money.)
It turns out the Department of Agriculture internal systems are having
trouble making the March, 1999 remediation deadline (didn't it used to
be December, 1998?) and the CIO when questioned started squirming and
finding areas of wiggle room.
The rural electricity situation (small independent electric companies)
is very dire, and the last witness claimed it could bring down the
entire grid.
Senator Bennett was paying very close attention, and was very concerned.
[This witness was Evans who appeared to have given the issue substantial research and thought. Bennett scribbled, frowned, looked dour.]
The contingency "plans" of virtually all witnesses were full of waffles
and nonsense. It was clear nobody was ready for a power or
communications outage of any significant duration.
[At least one witness, either Cargill or Suiza, claimed it would be impossible to operate on any kind of backup or reserve power system because their demands were just too great. The grid had to be up and reliable.]
It was clear that third world power outages and other infrastructure
problems could seriously impact many companies. While Americans were
not dependent on foreign imports, a failure in foreign trade would
bankrupt many food producers as well as importers which in turn would
have a huge economic impact even if the US worked through its own
problem.
[Foreign dependencies and relationships was a theme of concern that ran through out the hearing. This was I believe where the "finance" issue concerned Cargill the most...enough capital in the form of loans to continue operations at home in the US if facilities abroad went down. Cargill has substantial foreign exposure. The VP never came out and stated it. He did however stress that the committee work to insure that finance was accessible. The plea for access to capital was hard to miss.]
The bottom line: our assessment from this hearing would be that prudent
folks would have no less than six months of food in storage and a supply
of their favorite imported foods that reflected their maximum shelf
life.
[Bennett continually raised the "ice storm" scenario as a legitimate model to follow throughout the hearing while discouraging stockpiling/hoarding.]
Sardines will last for five years, and there may be no imports from
2000-2005. If you like 'em buy 'em now. Oh, and we noticed in our
cabinet that anchovies come from Morocco. While many people hate those
little fishies if you like 'em better get five years of those as well.
[Yuck...I'd rather die...and I'm half Sicilian...]
It is clear that Glickman and other members of the administration have
their Pollyanna press releases prepared. However, the devil of Y2K is
in the details.
Beneath the rosy press releases is minimal substance.
The sheeple are in for a very nasty surprise next year.
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Y2K is an intelligence test.
If you flunk you die.
(Warning: no quotas, no curve.)
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