From Computerworld.

Union Pacific Corp

Interesting: buying 500 generators.

Connectiv, NE Utility

Plans to have two weeks worth of payroll cash on site and 30-60 days' extra fuel.

Merrill Lynch

Preparation plans of interest: may implement Satphones; stocking fuel for generators.

Nabisco

"The focus is on "infrastructure"  electricity, gas, telephone and the like."

"You can have the products, the people and the machinery all Y2K-compliant, but if you're in France and your state-controlled nuclear power plant goes down, there's very little you can do," she said.

-- Lisa (lisa@work.now), July 19, 1999

Answers

That last company was supposed to be B ard, Manufacturer, Medical Devices.

Bard's corporate auditor made the French Nuke comment.

-- lisa (lisa@work.now), July 19, 1999.

DOOMER'S.....DOOMER'S...The lot of em'. They're just trying to conspire against the American public to get more doomer's on this board I tell's ya!!!

Or.....could it be just prudent preparation for a possible outcome..Hmmm. Nothing wrong with a little insurance, polly's...eh.

-- CygnusXI (noburnt@toast.net), July 19, 1999.

Why is it OK for governments, businesses & organizations to make contingency/preparedness plans - but not OK for individuals, communities or churches, etc. It makes NO sense - it only goes to show the double standard by which the former group operates by. If a gov't/business makes a plan they're being prudent - individuals doing the same are 'doomers' - they'll 'destroy the economy' with their preparations. This one fact alone speaks volumes to me.

-- Jim (x@x.x), July 19, 1999.

Individuals preparing are believed to have some unstable religious beliefs or militia/terrorist agendas. Big business just wants to protect their incomes.

-- Will continue (farming@home.com), July 19, 1999.

Good post. Sort of like my Mom - who GI's it. When we first started talking about Y2K last year, she said - "you know, the more the government denies something, the more true it usually is so I guess we better get ready for some kind of mess!"

-- Valkyrie (anon@please.net), July 19, 1999.

Mike T. And I suppose big companies will be making "capital investments" in generators, payroll cash, satellite phones etc.

All the difference in the world.

-- Linda (lwmb@psln.com), July 19, 1999.

Linda, except for the payroll cash any hardware corps purchase will be put on a depreciation schedule and written off unlike my generator, solar, etc. none of which can be written off. One might think a shell corp. would be in order to accomplish this, however the IRS is probably history as we know it.

I understand their restructuring contract was placed only 6/7 mos. ago and notice you scarcely hear a peep out of the GAO about them. They are part of the treasury dept. which has continually received a dismal rating by Rep. Horn anyway. My guess about the gov. silence is for the purpose of not to bring any needless attention to the IRS being so far behind timewise, have the public prematurely recognize this, and start an exodus of of filing quarterly returns. If the bond market where to get a whiff of this....goodbye low interest rates. Politicians are loathe to cut of their lifeblood.

-- Mike T. (anita_martini@hotmail.com), July 19, 1999.

Corporate contingency plans are ONLY as good as the individual preparaedness of their employees. If basic needs are not taken care of, no corporate needs will be. Who knows of any large company/government with an employee preparedness program? I haven't heard of one. It's has been orchestrated to be simply not "cool" to be talk/undertake preps. Unfortunately, lots of people evaluate their actions against the test of what is socially acceptable in our pop culture. They must have leadership on what to think.. This is where we find ourselves. I don't see this changing soon unless the "authorities" spin preparedness to be "cool".

-- PJC (paulchri@msn.com), July 20, 1999.

I did quite a bit of work at a Fortune 30 company this year in their IT dept. They are making no major plans for problems. The management just "assumes" that everyone will show up for work! Now the disconnect here is kinda obvisous to me. Lets see, power problems, schools closed, payroll problems, fuel problems, etc. So now these wonderfull employees are going to drive to work, leave their families alone, and be productive!! This seems to be magical thinking to me. Why do folks forget to think about a worst case scenario? If you don't think about it then it won't happen?

Well I know many of these "loyal employees" and I can assure you that if TSHTF they will not be going to work. Nobody says much about it around their co-workers but it is a fact. Hey I don't say much about it either, why advertise? :) I do have a sneaking suspicion that this large employer will be shutting down for a week long holiday, expense control don't you know, between 12/24 and 01/03. It's been done in the past and it would help ease some peoples concerns about being away from home and at work if there are any problems.

But I'm just a computer geek...what do I know :)

-- Freelancer (mercenary2000@yahoo.com), July 20, 1999.

Thanks lisa for the post

-- kevin (innxxs@yahoo.com), July 20, 1999.

I went to the first Year 2000 Committee meeting yesterday. It seemed as effective as me changing from 2% milkfat to 1%. That being said, all elements of the organization will be ready, it will jest depend upon the outside world.

On a side note, I have watched this board migrate from an information- sharing site to a doom/gloom site. I concur that we can't estimate how the other nations are going to be affected, but I think the good ol' US will be ok. Being prepared for the worst is something to be proud of, but don't flame me because I argue against the worst happening.

Flame away.

-- Slick (Slickaroo@yada.com), July 20, 1999.