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Technology Stocks : Discuss Year 2000 Issues -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: John Mansfield who wrote (1208)	3/19/1998 4:06:00 PM
From: John Mansfield	Read Replies (4) \| Respond to of 9818

Subject: DC Y2K Meeting (On Topic) Date: 19 Mar 1998 15:41:39 GMT From: (cory hamasaki) Reply-To: (cory hamasaki) Organization: IBM.NET Newsgroups: comp.software.year-2000, comp.software-eng - DRAFT NOTES, will be edited in the next DC Y2K Weather Report. ----------- DC Y2K Meeting Notes ------------ The important part - The buffet - fried squid, spicy chicken breasts, pizza rounds, sushi, multi-colored corn chips, sauces, crackers, asparagas, brocolli, cheeses, I didn't get to it all. DD hung around the squid, there was a sound like a hoover vacuum cleaner starting -whoooosh- th-unk, th-unk, it's tasty but salty, I need something cold and bubbly... with a twist of lime. There was food left over... Oh, Greg was late. The Merlot was a soft 1995, slightly bruised as if the grape pressers had calloused feet. I saw Bob Bemer! He was scurrying around the chips and dip. He left copies of his manifesto, an odd but interesting six pages on lime green paper typed in a tiny courier font. Bemer's manifesto repeats his claim to be the inventor of '27' in 1960, the key above Tab on my keyboard. Isn't '27' derived from the prior art of the Shift-Out of teletypes? Once I realized Bemer was there, I ran around looking for him but, sadly, like a Y2K ninja, he had vanished... there was only a cloud of greasy black smoke left. Check out bmrsoftware.com, although it might be just bmrsoftware.com, for an oddly precise fellow on dates, Bemer is a little vague on URLs. But on to the meeting. Senator Robert F. Bennett (R Utah) Senate Financial Services & Banking Committee, expected to be appointed head of the yet to be announced Senate Y2K Committee. Senator Bennett was entertaining, had a clear vision of the Y2K problem, spoke for an hour and a half on the problem from the government's perspective. Sound bites - A year ago, there were no Y2K compliant ATMs, now a few percent of the ATMs are Y2K compliant. We cannot solve all problems in time (about banking) We must keep the checks clearing, keep the money available. (about NCUA) There will be credit unions that go bankrupt. (about people) Alan Greenspan is a believer. Arthur Levitt calls him in a cold sweat. He is watching Ed Yardeni ratchet up his estimate from 30%, 35%, 40%, 60% and believes that we're in for a rocky road. Bob Rubin and the IMF are on board. (best laugh) Wrote to Bill Clinton about Y2K and a Y2K Czar, Bill didn't respond, he may have had other things on his mind. (about congress) He has Senator Lott and Dashel on board. There will be no programmer/software engineer draft. He's a free marketeer. Little problems in key places can cause a worldwide recession. There will be an enormous wealth transfer, analogous to the oil shock that transferred wealth from the industrialized countries to a few oil states in the middle east. Counties and cities are a problem. He pointed out that we have counties and cities that are larger than states. < States? Try larger than some nations. How does Greater LA (12 million) or Greater Chicago (8 million) compare to say, Sweden (9 million) or New Zealand (4 million). Even if the Feds make it, the counties and cities could fail. > Triage, mission critical v. non-mission critical. Have contingencies in place. What are your back up plans. Gas, water, power, communications. We have a major problem. This is like World War II. And through it all, through the sense of urgency, there was evidence of a sharp mind, moving the pieces into place to create a solution; optimistic but remaining pragmatic. - DRAFT NOTES - cory hamasaki kiyoinc.com <-----<<< Y2K

To: John Mansfield who wrote (1208)	3/21/1998 2:39:00 AM
From: John Mansfield	Respond to of 9818

'Sighting: Senator Bob Bennett's speech to the DC Y2K users group' From: "Higgins, Anthony" To: year2000-discuss@year2000.com Subject: Sighting: Senator Bob Bennett's speech to the DC Y2K users group Date: Thu, 19 Mar 98 At the Great Hall at Fannie Mae headquarters in Washington D.C., Senator Bob Bennett (R. Utah) provided some new insights into the extent of the Y2K problems facing our nation before a standing room only crowd of 300+ members of the DC Y2K users group. Here are the highlights. 1) Senator Bennett has spoken with Alan Greenspan who has assured the Senator that Federal Reserve Banks and branches throughout the country will have substantial cash on hand in the event of a liquidity crisis due to the Y2K problem. Senator Bennett has stated that he himself will have sufficient cash in his pocket to see himself through the crisis. (Did someone say Bank panic of 1907?). 2) Senator Bennett quoted Alan Greenspan as saying "We will have problems in the banking industry." 3) Senator Bennett stated that the banking industry MUST recognize that it will not fix all of the Y2K problems and that it must implement contingency planning and enter into a "triage" mentality, in his words keep the financial system alive, barely, at all costs until the problem is ultimately fixed after the Year 2000. Banks must decide what is mission critical and what is not. For those systems that are not mission critical, financial institutions MUST implement contingency plans for the manual performance of all functions formally performed by defunct computer systems. 4) Senator Bennett stated that on New Year's Eve 1999, he will do his best to not be in an elevator, airplane or a hospital. 5) In response to a question by a computer programmer, he said he will begin to consider Y2K safe harbor legislation that will provide liability protection to companies and computer programmers such that if they do x, y, & z, they may not be held liable in subsequent Y2K lawsuits. Write to your Congressman & Senator! 6) Arthur Levitt has stated that the heads of stock exchanges worldwide have no idea about Y2K. In addition, the conversion to the Euro is hampering Europe's Y2K conversion 7) The three federal agencies with the most Y2K problems are the IRS, FAA and HCFA (Health Care Financing Administration ...the Medicare & Medicaid agency). 8) Senator Bennett stated: "I believe this will set off a worldwide recession." He cited Ed Yardeni's recent estimate of a 60% chance a global recession. 9) Finally, Senator Bennett stated, although no official announcement has been made, next week Senator Trent Lott (R-Mississippi) and Senator Tom Daschle (D-South Dakota) will request the formation of a new Senate Committee that will have jurisdiction across all industries and and all federal agencies with the single task of looking into the Y2K problem. The Committee will not have authority to refer legislation to the floor of the Senate, however, it will make policy recommendations to other Senate Committees. Anthony S. Higgins Staff Attorney Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson 1001 Pennsylvania Avenue Washington, DC 20004 (higgian@ffhsj.com) (202) 639-7294