On This Day Pre-Y2K
Confused by any of the jargon you see below? Check the Y2K Glossary!
May 22, 1999 Permalink
Almost two-thirds of Americans plan to take currency out of their banks before January 1, yet 79% of them think that y2k will not affect them adversely.
Well, which is it? A big enough threat to warrant a personal bank run or a bump in the road?
The public will not make up its mind until December. It may take even longer. If the bump in the road is more jarring in January than people had expected, they will go down to their banks and take out more currency. When they see others doing the same, they will take out more than they had planned. As they stand in lines, they will think, “Maybe an extra hundred dollars. No, three hundred dollars. . . .”
When two-thirds of the population is worried enough to pull out a little currency, just in case, they have been primed to take out a whole lot more if public opinion on y2k begins to change. Fear feeds on itself, just as optimism does. We are in an optimism feeding period. It will not last indefinitely.
The y2k compliance deadlines will be missed. Count on it. When the managers run out of fiscal quarters to defer the next deadline to, the sense of fear will increase everywhere.
—Gary North, garynorth.com, 05/22/99
