The Year 2000 as seen in 1999

Here are a few of the more overwrought Y2K quotes (selected from this site):

"We are heading for a disaster greater than anything the world has experienced since the bubonic plague of the mid-14th century." Gary North, "Blind Man's Bluff in the Year 2000"

[Y2K will] be known as the greatest social, political, and financial crisis mankind has faced since the great plagues of the 14th century that wiped out one-third of Europe." Bruce Tippery, Gary North's publisher

"If we don't have electricity, nothing else works. On New Year's Eve 1999, let me suggest three places you don't want to be: in an elevator, in an airplane, or in a hospital."
Sen. Christopher Dodd, (D-Conn.), 06/12/98

"Currently I believe there is a 70 percent chance of a global recession as severe as the one that occurred in the 1973-74 oil crisis. Just as that recession was caused by the disruption in the supply of oil, I believe the disruption in the flow of information could be equally as disruptive."
Edward Yardeni, chief economist at Deutsche Bank Securities, North America, 08/19/98
[Wrong by his own admission, 01/05/2000, I actually debated Ed about this in a meeting we had at Credit Suisse in mid 1999 - JAH]

"The more I uncovered, the more I realized how extraordinarily vulnerable the system is. The writing is on the wall: it is not only possible, but probable that there are going to be food shortages."
Geri Guidetti, biologist and Y2k alarmist

"Americans cannot escape the inevitable risks of Y2K. Like characters in The Decameron fleeing a medieval plague, they can run to the hills if they want, as some doomsayers are doing, but the bug eventually will catch them, frustrate their best-laid plans and cost them dearly for years to come."
--Duncan A. MacDonald, IntellectualCapital.COM, 12/03/98
Duncan A. MacDonald is a retired general counsel for Citibank's card programs for Europe and North America. He is currently advising banks on Y2K, alternate dispute resolution, antitrust law, privacy policy and plain language.

"Based on what I learned at DistribuTECH '98, I am convinced that there is a 100 percent chance that a major portion of the domestic electrical infrastructure will be lost as a result of the Year 2000 computer and embedded systems problem. The industry is fiddling whilst the infrastructure burns."
--Rick Cowles, reports on the electric utility industry

"Severe long- and short-term disruptions to supply chains are likely to occur [due to Y2K-related system failures]. ... The Y2K problem still has the potential to be very disruptive, necessitating continued, intensive preparation in the time remaining," --U.S. Senate Committe on the Year 2000 Technology Problem, 09/22/99

"Problems will start to bubble up and by the second quarter [of 2000], there will be a big mess."

--Lynn Edelson, principal at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP's operational and systems risk management group in Los Angeles, 08/02/99, quoted in Techweb.com

"In spite of all these clues the only thing a rational person can conclude is that somehow, someway, it is highly probable that something bad will happen either because of Y2K or on behalf of Y2K. Problems and violence will either be born of lunacy or rationalized planning, of a foreign or domestic nature, and on either a small or large scale, but you can bet -- say the experts -- that something will happen."
Jon E. Dougherty, World Net Daily, 07/12/99
[Empasis in the original.]

"Whether by bombing a jetliner or attacking crowds in (New York's) Times Square, it's almost certain the Year 2000 will be ushered in with a major terrorist attack. ... [There will be a] violent upsurge in guerilla violence [against America]."
--Neil Livingstone, ex-Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff

"For the first few weeks of 2000, you'll probably see gas prices shoot up drastically. I would not be surprised to see a 50 percent rise in prices."
--Bruce Webster, Co-chair, Washington D.C. Year 2000 Group, 03/15/99