Arnie Rimmer has written a thought-provoking essay, worth reading. Rick Cowles posted it in his guest column on his euy2k.com forum:

Y2K And The Erosion Of The Middle Ground

My apologies if this has been posted already & I didn't see it.

-- Drew Parkhill/CBN News (y2k@cbn.org), March 27, 1999

Answers

Gary North just picked up the story at euy2k. <:)=

Middle Ground: A Very Big Bump in the Road

-- Sysman (y2kboard@yahoo.com), March 27, 1999.

IMO, the general erosion of the middle gound is directly related to the specific fragility of the banking system.

-- Nathan (nospam@all.com), March 27, 1999.

Thanks, Drew.

Yourdon forum thread ...

Y2K And The Erosion Of The Middle Ground

http://www.greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl?msg_id= 000cvv

Arnie, again, great job!!

Diane

-- Diane J. Squire (sacredspaces@yahoo.com), March 27, 1999.

i'm finding a similar problem locally with erosion of the vast middle ground.

-- jocelyne slough (jonslough@tln.net), March 27, 1999.

yeah, i posted it at cbn too:

The Erosion Of The Y2K "Middle Ground"

so it's now at at least 4 sites (euy2k, north, cbn, here)

-- Drew Parkhill/CBN News (y2k@cbn.org), March 27, 1999.

Thanks to those of you who have helped give this essay a bit more exposure. It is my hope that in some small way, it might encourage an approach to Y2K which neither 'doom' nor 'pollyanna', but one in which we prepare as best we can.

-- Arnie Rimmer (Arnie_Rimmer@usa.net), March 27, 1999.

Arnie: Excellent essay and it is true that the middle ground is eroding. But since no one knows where the middle ground is at, preparation for many will be either easy or difficult. What I have prepared for isn't in the middle ground range and it doesn't matter to me if it is a bump in the road because I will lose nothing. It's those that haven't a clue or haven't prepared that will be bothersome to people like us who have put forth the effort in time and money. I have it settled in my mind that I cannot support everyone and sacrifice my family. There's no middle ground there for me.

-- bardou (bardou@baloney.com), March 27, 1999.

bardou,

You wrote: It's those that haven't a clue or haven't prepared that will be bothersome to people like us who have put forth the effort in time and money. I have it settled in my mind that I cannot support everyone and sacrifice my family. There's no middle ground there for me.

-- bardou (bardou@baloney.com), March 27, 1999.

Hi, Got your gun?

-- NRA (duck@hide.selfish), March 27, 1999.

Why of course, BTW, got ammo? I called our ammo guy the other day, I heard rumors that certain calibers were being banned. Glad we got ours when we did because it will surely double in price. Something that gold hasn't done yet.

-- bardou (bardou@baloney.com), March 27, 1999.

Yes the rumor was going around that .223 was becoming very scarce due to recent surge of buying related to Y2K. Went to WalMart and found plenty on the shelf and purchased some more.

However I am still waiting for the spare firing pin and springs etc for the AR which I understand is backordered due to "unusual demand".

LM

-- LM (latemarch@usa.net), March 27, 1999.

The ammo that is in big demand or is being banned from import are the .223 .303 and .308. At the moment the Russian imported 7.62 is not banned, but promised shipments may not happen. There may be ammo in the calibers mentioned that are American made that are readily available. But price as usual plays a role in how much you can afford to buy.

-- bardou (bardou@baloney.com), March 27, 1999.