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

To: John Mansfield who wrote (2342)	8/1/1998 5:10:00 PM
From: John Mansfield	Respond to of 9818

'If financial institutions implement contingency plans that prevent preclude use of electronic systems, and consumers thus have to withdraw extra cash to avoid the risk of credit card and ATM failures-for example, to cover their holiday spending in December 1999-how much additional liquidity will the banking system need? ______ FROM: Testimony By Tanya Styblo Beder, Principal, Capital Market Risk Advisors, Inc. Concerning the Progress of Financial Firms in Managing Y2K Before the United States Senate Special Committee on the Year 2000 Technology Problem, July 6, 1998. home.swbell.net

To: John Mansfield who wrote (2342)	8/1/1998 5:22:00 PM
From: John Mansfield	Respond to of 9818

OT - 'Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Arthur Levitt Jr. will take the unusual step of sending letters to the chief executives of 10,000 public U.S. corporations in the next week urging them to file more meaningful statements about the costs and risks they face in fixing the year 2000 computer glitch. ... "If investors don't have information on a company's readiness, long-term confidence can be seriously undermined," Levitt said. "Panic and overreaction can ensue, rippling through our economy and disrupting business at all levels." ... washingtonpost.com

To: John Mansfield who wrote (2342)	8/1/1998 5:24:00 PM
From: John Mansfield	Respond to of 9818

'Misleading investors is a form of fraud. This is why the Securities and Exchange Commission is requiring state and local governments to provide y2k cost assessments if they sell securities (bonds) to the public. Some 50,000 legal entities have now been put on notice by an agency of the U.S. government. (Of course, this new rule will not apply to the U.S. government's T-bills, T-notes, and T-bonds.) This is going to create trouble in the earnings estimates of most publicly traded corporations. The game of "Y2K PR flakkery" will change on August 4, if the SEC has its way. No more vague statements. The SEC says that companies must disclose where they are in the code-remediation process and how its third-party suppliers and vendors are doing. And these reports must be in plain English! "A company should describe its Year 2000 issues in sufficient detail to allow investors to fully understand the challenges that it faces. We suggest that the description be similar to that provided to a company's board of directors -- which typically is non-technical plain English and answers the important questions -- such as 'will we be ready?' and 'how far along are we?' So far, most companies have provided only a cursory description of their Year 2000 issues." Corporate mendacity will continue, as it always does, but it will be far more difficult to maintain. Those who lie to the SEC will face anti-fraud sanctions. Very, very scary, let me assure you. The public is about to be told something like the truth. Reporters will not need my 36 questions to get the truth out of management, though any of the 36 will help get more of the truth out of them. There are commentators, deep into y2k denial, who dismiss the whole problem as irrelevant. The SEC disagrees. ... garynorth.com