....this piece is directed towards YOU!

As usual, the opinions expressed in this writing are solely my own, and I express them in the hopes that they may be in some small way helpful to someone, while at the same time giving me some personal pleasure in the way of stimulating entertainment
(the alternatives being: golfing in 39° weather, lugging and stacking more firewood, eating everything in the house, and smoking and/or drinking at 9:30 AM)....

Okay....by now, you've undoubtedly heard the most extreme and calamitous Y2K scenarios, painting dark impressions of riotous bedlam and failing order on a global scale–––because of the embedded computer infrastructures in virtually every nook and cranny in the modern world.

My own analysis and intuition tell me that the actual effects of the syndrome will not be quite so dramatic and instantaneous as the most fearful of the doomsday-ers would have us believe, ....though I do expect the longer term effects of the disruptions to be no less destructive of the lifestyle we have come to take for granted in this country.

That may be a good thing–––in that in the quest to survive and flourish in times when conventional systems fail, people will have to take responsibility for their own welfare, rather than depending on an ever expanding government presence attempting to orchestrate everything for them.

It seems to me that in places like China, Korea, Russia, and Africa (not to mention the United States),
....or anywhere there is stifling and oppressive government influence, the failure of these coercive systems, will be a very good thing.

Think for a moment of the people in rural China, many going hungry while laboring for the collective....how great will the collapse of that regime be for a mass of humanity that probably doesn't already enjoy everyday luxuries like readily available electric power, labor saving machines and appliances, personal petroleum-fuelled transportation, and the like?

You can bet your booties that Chiang Q. Public, ....who's up to his ass in a rice paddy or breaking his back in a labor farm, ....is just praying for the shit to hit the fan....so that he might get to keep some of his own production to feed and clothe himself for a change!

To hell with the Chinese, you say? Just how many Chinamen out of the 2 billion, or so of them, did you think sit around drinking champagne and eating caviar all day, while planning nuclear missile strikes and world wide espionage? ....Shees!...

Okay....Y2K and you.... Do you drive to work every day in your own car?....Do you work in an office or factory that depends upon products and materials shipped in from a remote location? ....Is your wealth largely stored in "paper instruments?" (e.g., bank accounts, stocks, bonds, etc.) ....Does most everything you eat come from a supermarket? ....Is your home heated or cooled with petroleum products, or electricity?

Think about this, then....it seems almost everything in modern systems runs on oil.

If you've never delved into any of the technical aspects of the petrolium industry, let me tell you, they are extremely complicated. I don't mean just the extraction and production of oil products, ....but the way in which they are brought to your gas station or doorstep for your own use. The interconnecting systems and devices which make it possible for you to "fill 'er up," or "turn up the furnace," are mind boggling.

I'm making no assumptions here of any definitive wide scale failure of these systems, however you can imagine what effect supply disruptions and smaller technical delays might cumulatively have in the final analysis––– tangibly and simply measured in shelf prices and instant availability.

Succinctly stated: Look for price increases and shortages.

If your place of employment comes up short on fuel, you will in all likelihood not be working regularly....and if a supplier of your materials somewhere along the line falls short, the same may be true. When a weak link is broken in the supermarket pipeline, will you have something to eat until the situation eases?

What is so crazy about getting a big bag of rice, and maybe some beans and cooking oil–––just in case?

(see Potter's Y2K checklist)

....And what if no shortages should occur after the new year? You can consume your stores in the knowledge that at least you saved some money (I mean, when was the last time you saw prices go down?)

If not one Y2K problem ever arises, I think that there still well may be bank runs and erosion in monetary confidence leading up to the New Year. Undoubtedly, there will be inflation due to the staggering amount of cash "printed" and distributed especially to guard against these problems.

Buy a little gold....some nice Maple Leafs or a few Krugerrands....and see what it feels like to hold some real money in your hands. You really have nothing to lose by taking a modest position in the yellow metal, ....now especially. Relatively speaking, it has almost never been so inexpensive to acquire the money of history.

They say, "It's never too late." Get yourself a rifle and develop some proficiency in its use. If you think the feds and all the swat squads are bad now, imagine what they might attempt given the pretense of some "global crisis."

Well, ....everyone's got to make their own choices, and trust me–––I certainly would not care to live without electricity and gasoline–––but should these things come to pass, I'm not gonna roll over and die, wishing I'd have done something sooner.

Okay, ....let's get a wiggle on. Time's a wastin'!

©1999

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