Gary North's Y2K Links and Forums - Mirror

Category: Introduction

(feel free to mail this page)



(Links to documents appear after the summary.)

Until the June 2, 1997, issue of NEWSWEEK, the mainstream media had not paid much attention to the enormous threat to civilization posed by the Millennium Bug. There had been articles here and there, but nothing so dramatic as this one.

In the week it was published, May 26, the Dow Jones Industrial Average reached a new record high.

This tells us something important: The world is in a state of denial. The y2k ("year 2 k" or thousand) problem is the most important problem that has ever faced Western civilization, yet it is not taken seriously.

Why not? Because people do not want to consider the following facts of life:

The social division of labor is the basis of our wealth, and in the case of cities, of our very lives.

The social division of labor rests on the existence of a payments system: money.

Money is computerized.

If the computers crash or start churning out bad data, there will be a run on the banks the likes of which we have never seen. Who will keep his money in the bank for 2% if he or she thinks that the money will be lost in dead computers?

"If the banks shut down, how will I get paid? Who will sell to me? What will I use as currency?"

To these questions are added others, which this Web site examines:

How will the West defend itself militarily if its computers go down?

How will cities get resupplied if computerized transportation goes down, especially trains?

How will governments survive if they cannot issue or collect checks?

How will we communicate if the telephone systems crash?

Then there are questions regarding public utilities: electricity, oil pipe lines, natural gas pipe lines, water and sewage, and so forth. Our lives depend on these services. Except for electrical power generation, there is nothing on the Web dealing with these topics in relation to y2k. (The news on elecrical power is extremely pessimistic.)

What if traffic lights go haywire in 2000? What happens to traffic in Los Angeles or in any other major city except New York? Millions of people will not be able to get to work. Trucks will stop coming into these cities.

Every supermarket must be restocked every 72 hours, assuming there is no panic buying.

This is why y2k is important. This is why the information on this site is important.

(Other categories: all of them, but especially "Countdown Clock.")

Updated - Subject

01-Jan-97   Your Basic Questions Answered
21-Jan-97   Year 2000 Questions & Answers at Greater Length
22-Jan-97   An Immense Bibliography on Y2K (Through October, 1996)
23-Jan-97   11 Reasons Why This Problem Now Faces Us
08-Feb-97   Government Warns: Why Systems Will Fail
08-Feb-97   DOOMSDAY: Peter de Jager's 1993 Classic Article
24-Feb-97   The Doomsday Date: A Brief Overview
24-Feb-97   Senator Moynihan to President Clinton: "Facing Chaos"
06-Mar-97   Humor: 50 Reasons Why Managers Are Ignoring the Problem
07-Mar-97   10 Things Businessmen Need to Know About the Problem
01-Apr-97   Part of the Problem Is Highly Complex Software
23-Apr-97   Understanding y2k: The Closets Analogy
17-May-97   ANALOGY: the Year 2000 Problem as a Flood
16-Jun-97   The State of Texas Summarizes Y2K Problems
18-Jun-97   The 1999 Problem: Shutdowns Will Begin Early
15-Jul-97   The #1 Issue: The Collapse of the Division of Labor
22-Jul-97   A Comprehensive Introductory Survey (Capers Jones)
14-Aug-97   Dave Barry Clears Up the Y2K Problem
25-Sep-97   A 16-Page Summary of the Actual Repair Problem
01-Oct-97   Will the Internet Survive? Maybe Not
10-Oct-97   Comforting Rhetoric: "Planes Falling from the Sky!"
25-Oct-97   Engineering Magazine Identifies Problem Areas
25-Oct-97   Why Y2K Repair Costs Are Underestimated
27-Oct-97   Dr. Doom? That's Me!
27-Oct-97   PARADE Magazine's Article
04-Nov-97   ANALOGY: Too Many Leaky Pipes for the Plumber to Fix
11-Nov-97   Economist Ed Yardeni's Mini-Book on Y2K: Very Informative
14-Nov-97   Things You Had Better Do Today (and not Do in Jan. 2000)
18-Nov-97   Shut-Down of Universities in 2000
04-Dec-97   Media Want Y2K Sound Bites
11-Dec-97   Summary in Chicago DAILY HERALD: Word is Slowly Trickling Out
13-Dec-97   Booklist for Making Preparations
27-Dec-97   Bad Subtraction: A Billion Times a Second
30-Dec-97   Israeli Firm Hires Arabs to Work on Y2K
03-Jan-98   Contingecy Planning in Cities: Who's in Charge?
13-Jan-98   Y2K Breakdowns Have Begun and Are Escalating
21-Jan-98   Why We Know Y2K Cannot Possibly Be Fixed
23-Jan-98   International Association of IT Professionals Sounds Warning
13-Feb-98   Y2K Discussion Forum: 75% Are More Pessimistic (Dec. 1997)
13-Feb-98   ANALOGY: Asteroids
16-Feb-98   International Y2K Sites
23-Feb-98   Gilligan Meets Y2K
25-Feb-98   ANALOGY (Best I've Seen): Catching Turkeys, One by One
28-Feb-98   A Day in the Life: January 4, 2000
28-Feb-98   Y2K Repair Problem Described by an Engineer
28-Feb-98   A Long List of Problem Areas That Have Already Suffered Failures
03-Mar-98   Easy Solution: Call In MacGyver!
21-Mar-98   What Can You Do to Protect Yourself?
21-Mar-98   No Credentuals -- No Truth -- No Action
06-Apr-98   Microsoft Vice President Muddies the Waters
06-Apr-98   The Origin of Y2K: Computer Punch Cards
07-Apr-98   How Old Are You? The Computers Won't Know in 2000
07-Apr-98   Millennium Bug: The Movie
08-Apr-98   Pat Robertson Meets Y2K
08-Apr-98   State of Minnessota Exposes Six Y2K Myths
14-Apr-98   Bureaucratic Substitutes for Relevant Change: The Dead Horse Analogy
15-Apr-98   Christian Magazine Editor Asks Pointed Questions
17-Apr-98   $4 Trillion Y2K Bill
20-Apr-98   Comprehensive Survey: AUSTRALIAN FINANCIAL REVIEW
20-Apr-98   The 1999 Problem
21-Apr-98   Religious Prophecies and Y2K: Almost Nonexistent
21-Apr-98   The Global Positioning System Rollback: Aug. 22, 1999
24-Apr-98   United Nations Offers Comprehensive Summary of Problems
29-Apr-98   GARTNER GROUP: Who Are They?
29-Apr-98   This Web Site Referred to in the NEW YORK TIMES
03-May-98   Bible Prophecy: Mark of the Beast Disappears. Oops! Revision time!
07-May-98   Washington Post Economist Admits: Media Have Ignored Y2K
07-May-98   Northoholics Anonymous
08-May-98   FORBES vs. FORBES
19-May-98   Steve Forbes Sends a Warning to Congress: Y2K Disaster
19-May-98   The Favorite Myth: Big Business Will Be OK, Not Small Business
21-May-98   Misters Ed: Yourdon and Yardeni -- 2 Y's on Y2K
21-May-98   Gloomy Analysis Is Spreading
27-May-98   Y2K: The Movie -- What It May do to Public Opinion
01-Jun-98   U.S. NEWS Runs Straight Story, Filled With Bad News
03-Jun-98   List of Y2K Sites/Resources: Christian Broadcasting Network
03-Jun-98   Opinion on Effects of Y2K: From Mild Effects to Collapse
11-Jun-98   Why All Incumbents Are in Trouble, Including Steve Forbes


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