re your SI/Goldbug Y2K preps %, I believe you are wildly optimistic.
And I hadn't heard about the NJ food stamp program...I'm on the LEFT Coast(grin)
For those SI'ers who haven't taken Y2K chaos seriously...
let me enumerate 5 reasons why I am paying close attention and one funny/sad anecdote which may help w/perception review:
1) My computer side reason emanates from one of the premier beta testors for IBM's think-tank group in atlanta...a BELL LAB'S BOY of the IBM Corp if you please.
He has shared IBM's written concerns to their customer base, i.e., those who have "patched IBM mainframes in the 1969-1970 roll-over" and at this late date still think they can patching that 69/70 patch.
IBM has contacted them all, such as the FAA and Utilities et al, and told them in no uncertain terms they will NOT be able to do another 30 year "fix" and postpone the upgrade problems until 2030.
2) My second electric energy reason emanates from a totally credible client of my commodity broker whose personal "off the record" phone call after trading hours was put on a speaker box for me to ONLY listen in on, silently.
I could give you this gentleman's name and his phone number although it would be unethical for me to do so. He is major management/corporate type with TVA, --Tennessee Valley Authority, a major East Coast electric utility provider. In a nutshell, he said the Retirees have being called back, (without disturbing their pension packages already annuitized) not only to teach manual switching at TVA, but they were trying mightily to get disconnected from the NAFTA electrical grid which hooks up all Canadians utes, all USA utes, and all of Mexico into one giant power grid.
Mr R as I'll call him, stated clearly that under the best case scenario, they would not be able to completely decouple, but that they were trying desparately for a rolling blackout situation for their own local TVA customers which would MIGHT 2 hours every 24 if they could just pull it off in time.
Ditto the SW Missouri power ute, Mohawk.
3)The 3rd reason I am paying attention to Y2K: I've been able to track down for my personal reading/consideration thx to our awake and alert family doctor. That information makes clear this:
Medical Malpractic Insurance for calendar year 2000 is NOT being offered to USA Medical Doctors who have privileges at hospitals, who have not been certified Y2K compliant, especially in their Emergency Rooms. This is documentable. No hospital or HMO, private or public, or run by nuns of the Catholic Church are certified at this late date. I have discussed this with my personal family care physician. It is true.
4) The 4th reason I am paying attent is this: all the casualty insurance policies here in the USA,
that cludes fire,
theft,
automobile,
renters,
business interruption,
liability of all kinds, and
homeowners casualty insurance underwritten casualty insurance products to just name a few
have all submitted to the individual 50 states' individual State Insurance Commissioners amended language excluding Y2K causality as a basis for filing a claim
These 4 things are personally known to me to be true,
believable,
verifiable
and thus, legitimate causes for my concern.
To those who state that Y2K discussion is hype by people who want to sell me something,
I submit the following refutation:
1)I am not a mainframe owner nor a software client of the first person I quoted. No sale potential there.
2) I do not live in Tennessee Valley Authority Electrical Grid nor SW Missouri's Mohawk either. I live in a state whose electric ute is a massive hydropower facility. Our nuclear power plant was decommissioned and dismantled almost 4 years ago now.(Trojan)
No sales potential there.
3) I do not practice medicine, so I don't need malpractice insurance.
No sales potential here either.
4) I am a casualty insurance purchaser as a home owner and a car owner, so I do represent a sale there I suppose.
But, I guarandamnteeya, it's gonna be a tough sell since my casualty insurers (State Farm--one of the biggest in the nation and I've belonged to them for the better part of 30 years) are now set up to exclude everything that might go wrong next year which I could file a claim for, because they can investigate and blame everything on Y2K issues.
IS THERE AN INSURANCE STOCKS INDEX I COULD SHORT??? ALL REPLIES WELCOME
I wish it to go well for all. I truly do not believe Jan 1 2000 will be business as usual, especially with the FRB's already declared bank holiday--which will effectively MINIMALLY keep the banks CLOSED TO ALL TRANSACTIONS AND THAT INCLUDES ATMS until 1/11/00.
And I expect it to be a ripple effect with long economic, social, legal, and spiritual consequences.
Here's a gooder for you that might make you snicker, as it did me, because I know the man and know his religious background.
Here in the Good Ole' USA we have a fundamentalist layman zealot, a PhD psychologist by the name of Dr. James Dobson. You can find his particular brand of religious practice on his website, Focus on the Family through a search engine. I've been there once.
Anyhow, Dr. Dobson loves to curry/cultivate & patronize all the women callers to his nationwide syndicated daily radio talk show. It is heard all over this nation. While he's currying and coddling America's women, he simultaneously rails upon the primarily Caucasian MALE "Christians" to get off their duff and take charge of the little woman, putting her and the kiddies back in their places because "God Sez So!"
Here about oh, 2 maybe 3 months ago, Dr. Dobson did 3 day series on his talk show about Y2K and why he believes it is serious and how to prepare.
Now Dobson isn't one of my rav fav people by any stretch of the imagination. In point of fact, I reviewed some of his books back in college in my religious fervor days, and he didn't fare so well by the time I got through with my written critique. But I did Ace the course(grin)...Oh, the course title: Contemporary Christian Ethics!!!
Anyhow...Dobson's Y2K program tidbits started showing up in my e*mail from various and sundry sources from people who thought I might give a damn about his opinion.
The bottom line is this,
and I think it is hilarious.
Dobson was using his radio show as a bully-pulpit to alert preachers. The alert? That Y2K concerned housewives of America who are getting ready for Y2K were going to significantly disrupt and impact the "free will offerings and tithes" paycheck system currently enjoyed by the white-collared flock leaders within earshot of his "ministry's voice." Dobson warned them they better wake up or they would be out of a job!
..well, I had to laugh. It was a bitter, sardonic laugh, but a laugh never the less.
Of course, Dobson's ox was already being gored or else he wouldn't have been so vocal about his "paycheck warning."
Now there is a classic proof by subjective anecdote...
Fundy preachers are now worried about their paychecks b/c the little wo' is gonna buy extra rice and potatoes for her family before writing a check to the church.
SELAH |
