During Senate hearings with Greenspan, Bennett, etc., Sen. Phil Gramm of Texas (chairman of the Banking committee, I think) tossed out this gem (And I don't think he was trying to be funny):

[snip]

SEN. PHIL GRAMM, R-TX: ``Well it seems to me we ought to be encouraged that in the year 1000 they had to add a new digit, and you had no evidence of economic disruption. And then the millennium before, we had dates going down, and then they started going up, and yet no evidence of disruption or chaos in the economy, so if they could do it then, surely we could deal with it now, it seems to me.''

[end snip]

Question #1: How many non-compliant computers did they have in the year 999, Phil?

Question #2: Do you really think that in the years we *now* label B.C., the people referred to the year using B.C. dates? How prophetic. ("Lemme check my calendar, Fred. Hmm . . . 9 B.C. I guess that means the Messiah is coming in less than a decade!")

-- rick blaine (y2kazoo@hotmail.com), July 29, 1999

Answers

Uh, yeah, I think he is in fact, an idiot. Are you surprised by this? And, he most certainly was trying to be funny. Unfortunately, he missed the mark. There were much more important things to come out of that committee hearing than Gramm's remark. Naturally, that will be the thing that people talk about the most. I think it was a set up...

-- (dot@dot.dot), July 29, 1999.

Yes, isn't it funny that there were no complaints about the computer in 1000. hee hee! Idiot is right! I saw him on CSpan 2 this morning and he again distinguished himself by blathering about the wonderful windfall that "working people" would get from the Republican tax cuts. Actually only the wealthy will benefit from a tax cut.

But what really worries a person , is that voters keep sending him back to Washington..

-- gilda (jess@listbot.com), July 29, 1999.

They're all idiots, except the Honorable Ron Paul, who gave us the silver, gold, and platinum Eagles.

-- Prometheus (fire@for.man), July 29, 1999.

Uh, yeah, and he's *my* representative, too!

Gives new impetus to the phrase, "term limits".

-- mommacares (harringtondesignX@earthlink.net), July 29, 1999.

Is Gramm the one that has a Ph.D. in economics from Texas A&M? If this this was not a tongue-in-cheek remark, he is a certifiable moron. What a devastating statement that will be for an opponent to use against him in the next election cycle....if they ever happen again.

-- Mike T. (anita_martini@hotmail.com), July 29, 1999.

We can point to the obvious as much as we want, but the fact is that the general public is "buying it"...at least for now.

-- Tim (pixmo@pixelquest.com), July 29, 1999.

Yep, I was watching C-Span when he said that. If he was joking, it was the most deadpan delivery I've ever seen.

But I already thought he had the IQ of shrimptoast anyway.

Jolly

-- Jollyprez (jolly@prez.com), July 29, 1999.

Gramm IS a well known moron that keeps being re-elected by the idiotic trailer trash he represents. Yes, I'm sure that this remark will bring out some offended Texans but Phil baby is not worth defending. BTW, it was not that long ago this fool was a presidential election runner.

-- For (your@info.com), July 29, 1999.

Gramm knows better, he's no dummy. He also knows his constutuents *don't* know better -- they elected him, didn't they? If there's one thing politicians are aware of, it's that televised hearing are TV shows, not hearings. Gramm is not making an observation, he is playing a role for a specific audience.

-- Flint (flintc@mindspring.com), July 29, 1999.

To be fair to Gramm, by way of a few examples: 1) his doctorate is honestly earned; 2) he knows little less about Y2K than millions of other triple-digit IQ Americans with degrees (hasn't almost every GI reader of this forum talked to multiples of those?); 3) he started his previous Presidential campaign bid on the grounds of Texas A. & M. University, a school that has numerous respected doctoral programs in engineering and hard sciences, to say nothing of a collegiate library that is around #43 in the nation (Univ. Texas at Austin is ~#15?). That doesn't sound totally anti-intellectual to me.

www.y2ksafeminnesota.com

-- MinnesotaSmith (y2ksafeminnesota@hotmail.com), July 29, 1999.

But what a despicable role.

-- number six (Iam_not a number@hotmail.com), July 29, 1999.

Just another blathering soundbite for a nation addicted to intellectually vacuous comments.

Wins my vote for "Most vapid government official of the month!"

RUN SHEEPLE RUN, RUN SHEEPLE RUN.....

Momma always told me the year 2000 was like a box a choclates....

-- Gordon (g_gecko_69@hotmail.com), July 29, 1999.

He really did'nt say that, did he???

-- David Butts (dciinc@aol.com), July 29, 1999.

A little more respect, please. Gramm is chairman of the Senate banking committee.

-- dave (wootendave@hotmail.com), July 29, 1999.

GOOD POINT DAVE! If you want to know the why and the truth FOLLOW THE MONEY!

-- Ann Fisher (zyax55b@prodigy.com), July 29, 1999.

Our "leaders"??? Our .gov at work!!!

I really love this country, but sometimes, no, many times, I gotta wonder.

Anybody got a nice little tropical island I can move to... <:)=

-- Sysman (y2kboard@yahoo.com), July 30, 1999.

Hmm. Senate Banking Committee?

I wonder First: What does he know that WE don't? And Second: Does he get the TRUTH from the Banks!?!?!? Third: Does he take for Granted, what he's told? Fourth: If it is bad, then can he hold the Banks accountable, assuming they tell him everything is A. OK!?

Other then that I agree that He's playing to a specific target Audience.

Father

-- Thomas G. Hale (hale.tg@att.net), July 31, 1999.

"And then the millennium before, we had dates going down, and then they started going up, and yet no evidence of disruption or chaos"

Wrong wrong wrongo dude, I have it on authority that the corporate and multinational abacus users of their day had untold problems at the negative to positive year zero rollover - primarily it seems to have been that the older abacus masters, using just their middle and index fingers (two digits) were used to calculating from left to right, now in one swell foop they had to calculate from right to left using four digits. The upstart pups in the souks had an advantage over the wise men in that they were easily able to master the new directional paradigm - however, it must be emphasised, the rollover was not as smooth as Sen. Gramm (60$???) would have you believe.

This does not bode well for our own rollover.

-- Andy (2000EOD@prodigy.net), July 31, 1999.

CHAIRMAN OF SENATE BANKING COMMITTEE? LORD SAVE US

-- dense cremed (rose@to.top), July 31, 1999.