by Jackie Clark

What is all this talk about Y2K? Why are some people concerned about potential power outages and disruption in delivery of goods and services and other people aren't the slightest bit worried? I thought I'd take this opportunity to share with you some of the information I have about Y2K. On April 22, I attended a meeting in Washington, D.C., to hear a speech by Sen. Bob Bennett (R-UT), co-chairman of the Senate Special Committee on the Year 2000 Technology Problem. Says Bennett, "This is a human problem that will affect every one of us."

Bennett broke the Y2K problem into eight categories healthcare, government services (federal, state and local), banking, business (private sector), power/water, communications, transportation and legal. He is gravely concerned about healthcare, especially smaller clinics and doctors' offices. Large medical devices are not Y2K-compliant even brand-new equipment such as kidney dialysis machines. Surveys show that 8 to 25 percent of medical devices will fail.

Bennett feels that most big businesses will be all right, as will small businesses that operate without computers or with programs like Windows 95 and Quicken that can download fixes. Of greater concern are the medium-sized businesses for which remediation may be cost-prohibitive. The senate just passed emergency legislation to enable such businesses to get SBA loans for remediation. The banking industry has spent the most money on Y2K remediation and Bennett felt confident that money will be transfered around with no problem. Communications and the power grid depend on each other. Bennett feels that if Y2K had come six months ago, the power grid would have gone down, but now there's less than a 10 percent chance that this will happen.

Remediation in the government sector varies. Some states and municipalities are not taking this as seriously as others, although the senate is putting pressure on the states and municipalities to get in shape. Bennett advised the audience to make some phone calls to find out for themselves grandiloquence if essential government services will work. Bennett indicated that he was very concerned about the Defense Department, the IRS, the FAA and the Department of Transportation.

We all rely on computers for transportation. Bennett urges us to assume the problem is worse than we are being told. "There will be economic consequences, and it will come in ways we won't anticipate," he says. Someone asked Bennett where he would be on December 31, 1999 and he said he would be in Salt Lake City and not on an airplane especially overseas. "Even if you could land," he says, "there would be no assurance you could take off."

Bennett is perhaps most concerned about the global implications. "For example, we import 50 percent of our oil and Venezuela is the largest exporter of oil to the United States 80 percent of their GNP is tied up in oil." Many countries are not nearly as aggressive as he would like, including such technologically advanced countries as Germany and Japan. Eastern Europe is still using outdated knockoffs with mostly pirated software, and in Russia the signs are poor all the way across the board.

Globally or locally, each of us will in some way face repercussions from Y2K. If you are interested in finding out more, feel free to give me a call at 410-465-9633.

(Jackie Clark and her husband Andy own Clark Do It Center on Route 40 in Ellicott City.)

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