Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : Ask Michael Burke -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Knighty Tin who wrote (69469)	10/23/1999 1:17:00 PM
From: umbro	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 132070

Y2K iceberg, dead ahead? Let the band play on ... worldnetdaily.com [...] The BIS report needs to be taken seriously. The Social Security checks are not the only financial transaction that are in danger. The world economy is a risk, according to some financial experts. Financial advisor and author John Mauldin has been warning of a financial recession in America and a depression in much of the world after the first of the year. The signs are all there. As the last few days of the year slip by, more and more government agencies, commercial businesses, and infrastructure systems will begin to issue revised statements of their Y2K readiness to protect themselves from inevitable law suits next year. The truth about the BIS report and the failure of the SSA to be ready for Y2K after 10 years of preparations should be more widely reported than it is. If the concerns expressed by Willemssen and the BIS report were made known to the general public, Mauldin believes the public would be better prepared to face the financial difficulties he predicts will come in the new year. Mauldin points to recent reports by the Security and Exchange Commission, as well as a survey by respected researcher Howard Rubin's Rubin Systems, Inc. The SEC and Rubin report that American businesses are not fully prepared to deal with the Y2K computer problem in a survey of the Fortune 1000 companies. The most significant finding of the Rubin survey is that 48 percent of the respondents said they will have all their mission-critical systems tested and compliant by New Year's Eve. That means a full 52 percent will not be ready! Mauldin says that if just 5 to 10 percent of all companies lose business we will have a recession next year. Many of the top Fortune 1000 companies are already becoming less optimistic about business in the new year. In a supplement to his monthly newsletter, financial expert and advisor Martin D. Weiss says 216 blue chip stocks are "Y2K basket cases." As an example of trouble ahead, Weiss points to findings in required Securities and Exchange Commission filings from the nation's top businesses. "General Motors is risking a devastating Y2K shutdown. In its disclosures to the SEC, the company admits it could face significant impediments to (its) ability to carry on its normal operation," warned Weiss as one example of trouble ahead. The problems reported by General Motors are said to be typical of those reported by at least 219 other major firms. Many of these same companies paint a much rosier picture in their public statements about their Y2K preparations. Add to the internal Y2K problems of these companies the likelihood that financial transactions could be disrupted and you have a lot of companies unable to do business, and a lot of people out of work. Mauldin is expecting layoffs sufficient to bring unemployment figures over 20 percent, and a resulting drop in the stock market of 50 percent or more.