To: JDN who wrote (29293 ) 3/6/1999 6:11:00 PM From: Captain Jack Read Replies (2) | Respond to of 31646
JDN--- now I feel like WR.... ~~~ ALL OT ~~~~~ ~~~ OT ~~~~ Saturday March 6, 4:37 pm Eastern Time No need to head for the hills on Y2K- SEC chief MIAMI, March 6 (Reuters) - Corporate America is ''in very good shape'' to deal with the millennium bug and there is no need to stockpile food or head for the hills come Dec. 31, the top U.S. stock regulator said on Saturday. U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Arthur Levitt was asked at a town hall forum in Miami to rate U.S. corporate preparedness to deal with the year 2000 computer bug. On a scale of one to 10, with one being excellent and 10 representing ''head for the hills,'' Levitt said, ''I'd pick one. I really think we're in very good shape.'' Levitt said, ''corporate America by and large is doing a good job of protecting against Y2K... I think that in the United States, the major companies have spent the money, the time, to protect us.'' The computer bug known as Y2K was born in the early days of computing when programmers saved what was then expensive space by truncating years to two digits. But that decision meant that when older computers begin reading the year 2000, they will only read the last two digits and interpret the information as the year 1900. This could result in computer crashes and flawed data. Levitt cautioned that some companies would still have problems and said he was ''not at all as confident'' about international preparedness. But he said there was no need for Y2K panic. ''I have heard of people putting water and food in. That could feed on itself and create a much worse danger than the problem itself,'' he said.