From this week's Forbes (05/01) - Is your Y2k time share paid for?
Y2k survialism is going mainstream. At the Forbes Web site,
there are three other companion articles dealing with the possibilities of a dark Y2k future.
God, I hope (and pray), this vision of the future
is not what we're heading for.
If the real mainstream press (i.e. the Times, The Post, your
local newspaper) gets wind of these types of articles
(which they will), and "John Q Public" starts taking notice
of them (which they will), then the various investment
strategies (as discussed on this thread of getting out
of the market by the end of '98) might be, in retrospect,
too little/to late. Any thoughts?
biff
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By Adam L. Penenberg
When Gerald Walker decided to relocate, he looked for a
good place to hide. Not from assassins or thugs
or even the police, but from a bug.
Not just any bug: a computer bug.
Walker, who last November bought a home in rural
San Jaoquin Valley, Calif., is part of a growing
movement of computer professionals, entrepreneurs and
religious extremists who are about to quit their jobs
and head for the hills because they are convinced that
the "millennium bug" will bring on the end of civilization
as we know it.
This bug will not infect people but it will cause
computers to throw a fit when the new decade begins.
This is the Year 2000 or Y2K problem, a computer glitch
that will cause mainframe computers to see the year 2000
as 1900 and either stop functioning or start spewing
some very bad data.
Computer programmers are working around the clock
to solve this problem, and it is going to be expensive.
Gartner Group estimates that companies will end up
spending anywhere between $300 and $600 billion to
fix the bug.
To folks like Walker, who have been lighting up online
discussion forums dedicated to the Y2K problem, the
millennium bug is a prelude to Armageddon. For these believers,
many of whom see it as a manifestation of God's wrath
against a sinning world, the end is near. When the clock
strikes 2000, the nation's electricity will short out,
trains won't run, banks will collapse and hordes of urban dwellers will scavenge for food as supplies dwindle.
Heritage Farms 2000 promises a safe place to wait out
the five or so "turbulent years" after the
onset of the millennium.
As a result, these hardy souls have begun to establish "safe
havens" - Y2K-compliant communes conveniently located
near farmland with access to fresh water and their
own electric power through local generators,
windmills or solar panels.
None have yet been built, although some are past
the planning stage. Heritage Farms 2000, for instance,
slated to be built in Sully County,
South Dakota, offers Y2K survivalists five-year
leases on half-acre plots for just $10,000.
Founder Russ Vorhees, who already owns the land outright,
expects the community to be fully functional by mid-1998.
Although he is not sure how bad things will get with the
onset of the millennium, he says he sees
a business opportunity.
So why not sell the plots of land? Because time
is running out, and leasing plots would make
this opportunity available to the greatest
number of people in the shortest time.
Heritage Farms 2000 promises a safe place with a
high-quality of life for individuals and families to wait
out the five or so "turbulent years" after the onset of
the millennium, Vorhees says. To that end, he plans to
offer independent satellite hookups that can ensure
Internet access and telephone service. Of course, he assumes
that the Internet will survive Armageddon.
In Monte Vista, Colo., a Year 2000-compliant safe haven
is planned on a 120-acre spread, complete with a
business plaza, commercial strip mall and several
residential communities, including two with 18-hole
golf courses. Alex Gallegos, an attorney and partner
in the project, says that the area's abundant sun,
water and fertile soil make this an ideal place
to set up a Year 2000-compliant community.
And in the mountains of southwest Virginia,
a planned Christian community called Rivendell
has already sold several plots.
Naturally, there are those in the material world who
look down on this flight. "Panic is the last thing we need,"
says William Ulrich, president of the Soquel, Calif.
- based Tactical Strategy Group and author of
The Year 2000 Software Crisis: Challenge of the Century.
"All it does is spread fear and, concurrently, drain
the population of people who can help fix the problem."
(emphasis added - biff) |
