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Strategies & Market Trends : Bob Brinker: Market Savant & Radio Host -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Diamond Jim who wrote (8769)	11/23/1998 12:54:00 PM
From: Jeffrey D	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 42834

Our Federal Govt. is far behind in Y2K compliance. Perhaps they will have to shut down.....Hmmm if that happens wouldn't that be a positive indicator for the market? <gg> Jeff << Congress gives gloomy Y2K report -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- WASHINGTON, Nov. 23 (UPI) -- With just 13 months to go before New Year's Eve, 1999, most federal agencies are still far behind schedule to upgrade and protect the government's massive computer network. The House of Representatives' Year 2000 Task Force gave government agencies an overall grade of ''D'' for their upgrade efforts, according to a report released today by Rep. Steven Horn, R-Calif. The so-called ''millennium bug'' will affect any computer or equipment that contains software or hardware that is programmed to read only the last two digits in a four-digit year. It is not yet clear what will happen when these systems try to process the date 01/01/00, but the date change could cause widespread glitches or crashes as computers read the date as ''1900.'' Some of the largest and most important computer systems in the government received failing grades from the House, including the Medicare and Medicaid systems; the Department of Energy; the Justice Department; and the State Department -- which, if it continues at its current rate, will not be year-2000 compliant until the year 2034. The Department of Defense earned a D-minus. Horn, the chairman of the House Subcommittee on Government Management, Information and Technology, called the results as ''discouraging.'' In these agencies alone, computer glitches could jeopardize the approval and payment of health care benefits, cause massive power blackouts in the dead of winter and endanger court and law enforcement records. The nation's air traffic control system is still just halfway through its computer upgrades, making it possible that planes could be grounded on New Year's Day. Horn said: ''Who wants an 'F' student managing nuclear material?.... It goes without saying that there is zero tolerance for error when dealing with the defense of the nation.'' On the up side, the Social Security System has been working on the year 2000 problem for the past decade, and has ensured that pension checks will be distributed without interruption. The Small Business Administration, Environmental Protection Agency, National Science Foundation and General Services Administration also received high marks. In all, Horn said, two-thirds of executive branch agencies will be able to meet the March 1999 deadline for the upgrade of their so-called ''mission-critical'' systems. Horn has been a persistent critic of the government's slow response to the problem. While Social Security recognized and acted to avoid the danger starting in 1989, most agencies did not begin to deal with the year 2000 issue until 1996. He blames a lack of central coordination, management and oversight of the federal agencies. He plans to introduce legislation next year that would divide the federal Office of Management and Budget into separate budget and management offices. Right now, Horn said, budget concerns overwhelm the agency's interest in overseeing other agencies. --- >>