Wedneday 9:30 AM Clinton speaks about y2k on CNN

-- cmd0903 (cmd0903@dontcall.com), November 10, 1999

Answers

Is that E.S.T. ???

-- Herb (herb01@prodigy.net), November 10, 1999.

Yes . Just heard it after a Koskinen interview on CNN.

-- cmd0903 (cmd0903@dontcall.com), November 10, 1999.

Full report, please! Hopfully, the transcript will be printed somewhere.

R.

-- Roland (nottelling@nowhere.com), November 10, 1999.

And by the way, what did Kosky say?

-- Roland (nottelling@nowhere.com), November 10, 1999.

Pretty much the same as this morning's press report. I didn't catch the whole interview. http://www.cnn.com/US/9911/10/whitehouse.y2k.ap/

-- cmd0903 (cmd0903@dontcall.com), November 10, 1999.

If Clinton at any time mentions "keeping your money in the bank" then I will know that the tills are almost dry. I will then immediately proceed to the bank to withdraw what few dollars I have remaining.

-- Me (me@me.me), November 10, 1999.

Gotta love it. Clinton talks about Y2K and what's the FIRST question asked by the press??? GETTING OUT OF TOWN!!!

-TECH32-

-- TECH32 (TECH32@NOMAIL.COM), November 10, 1999.

Fed. Gov. ready.

No National breakdowns.(said nothing about local)

Savings safe.

Concerns about some developing nations.

Most trading partners fine.

1/4 small businesses doing nothing.

-- Deborah (infowars@yahoo.com), November 10, 1999.

It's 10:18. What did Clinton say? Don't have tv.

-- CD (CDOKeefe@aol.com), November 10, 1999.

oops, almost forgot. Thanks for the heads up cmd0903. :-)

-- Deborah (infowars@yahoo.com), November 10, 1999.

First the Koskinen interview by an amazingly clueless guess co-anchor Kira Phillips (?) who couldn't even pronounce his name and had obviously never heard of him. Story here Don't worry, be happy except for medical billing and some schools and some countries (but not our major trading partners).

Then Clinton with Koskinen and Abrams standing by, but never speaking. Infrastructure fine, Fed. gov't. 99% done with mission critical. Few problems with small businesses, schools etc. but he have out a toll free number to call. [for a good time call 1-888-MONICA?]

Last chance to lead the country to prepare... wasted.

Let's hope beyond hope that the smiley faces are right... because if they aren't the Administration's failure to lead has just made it so much worse.

-- Linda (lwmb@psln.com), November 10, 1999.

This quote from Mr. K's interview last week is very telling: why is he able to worry about small businesses failing, but not the resulting impact on big businesses, and ignores the failures likely in national state and local governments:

< "If you're a small company that decides to wait and fix it and does not get it fixed on time," he explained, "out position is, 'That's life.' It's a great, free country, and you have the freedom to fail."

Koskinen estimates there are 800,000 small businesses in the United States at risk for Y2K computer failures. As alarming as Koskinen's figure may be, the Small Business Administration reportedly has said that of the 16 million small U.S. business which have done nothing to deal with Y2K, 8 million are at risk of failure. Either way, a lot of American jobs are in jeopardy. >>

-- Robert A. Cook, PE (Marietta, GA) (cook.r@csaatl.com), November 10, 1999.

Look at these recent confidence figures:

	Dec 9-13, 1998	Mar 5-7, 1999	Aug 25-29, 1999
	% "likely"	% "likely"	% "likely"
Banking/accounting will fail	63	55	48
Air traffic control will fail	46	43	35
Food/retail distribution will fail	37	40	35
Emergency/ "911" will fail	36	32	27
Hospital equipment/services will fail	33	32	22
Nuclear power/defense systems will fail	30	27	18
Passenger cars/trucks will fail	17	--	12

Of course we have advised the president to continue poo- poohing Y2K. Like another poster mentioned, would you really be happier if he came out with "Enscrewed. All of us. Game over."?

-- J. Rendon (dude@with.contract), November 10, 1999.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Clinton said Wednesday that he expects the United States to escape any Year 2000 computer glitch-related breakdowns in key economic and infrastructure.

But he said the United States still had concerns about the Y2K readiness of some developing countries that he did not name. He called for greater contingency planning to handle problems caused by the glitch that could scramble computers on Jan. 1.

``While there is more to do, I expect we will experience no major national breakdowns as a result of the Year 2000 date change,'' Clinton told reporters on the White House lawn, accompanied by John Koskinen, head of the President's Council on Year 2000 Conversion.

Clinton spoke after the council released its fourth and final report on the giant computer reprogramming task that it called ``the greatest management challenge the world has faced since World War II.''

``When it comes to financial services, power, telecommunications, air and rail travel, leading organizations report they have completed or nearly completed all their Y2K work,'' Clinton said. ``I am confident the Y2K problem, therefore, will not put the savings or the safety of the American people at risk.

``But in some areas we do continue to have concerns. Some small businesses, local governments and other organizations have been slower to address the Y2K challenge,'' he said.

-- Sysman (y2kboard@yahoo.com), November 10, 1999.

Don't you find it symbolic that Ms. Abrams was there? She said in the USIA posted transcript close to this time last year that a spin would come down and it would intensify as the Year 2000 approached. Ms. Abrams is the one who told everyone to expect food shortages, prepare, Uncle Sam would have a spin but activate segments of the population at different times so the system could cope, and urged the media to be tight lipped, careful, and not cause a panic.

-- Paula (chowbabe@pacbell.net), November 10, 1999.

Clinton made these remarks in front of the media. Please note his statement and the resulting questions. Feeling a little ill...

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November 10, 1999 REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT ON Y2K UPON DEPARTURE TO YORK, PENNSYLVANIA 10:05 A.M. EST

THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release November 10, 1999

REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT ON Y2K UPON DEPARTURE TO YORK, PENNSYLVANIA

The South Grounds

10:05 A.M. EST

THE PRESIDENT: Good morning. Ladies and gentlemen, I want to thank John Koskinen and all the leadership that he and others have provided in helping to prepare America for Y2K.

We are releasing our fourth and final quarterly report on public and private efforts to address the Y2K computer problem. The report shows that our hard work in this country is paying off. And while there is more to do, I expect we will experience no major national breakdowns as a result of the Year 2000 date change.

First, the report makes clear that the federal government is Y2K ready and leading by example. Thanks to the efforts of the Office of Management and Budget, we have completed work on more than 99 percent of all mission critical computer systems -- which means the American people can have full faith that everything from air traffic control systems to Social Security payment systems will continue to work exactly as they should.

Second, the report documents remarkable Y2K progress in all of America's critical infrastructure areas. When it comes to financial services, power, telecommunications, air and rail travel, leading organizations report they have completed, or nearly completed, all their Y2K work. I am confident the Y2K problem, therefore, will not put the savings or the safety of the American people at risk.

But in some areas we do continue to have concerns. Some small businesses, local governments and other organizations have been slower to address the Y2K challenge. So again I say to these groups, don't just sit back and wait for problems to occur. Call 1-888-USA-4Y2K, and we'll show you where to get help.

And while most of our large trading partners are in good shape, we still have concerns about the Y2K preparations of some developing nations. The State Department will continue to update it's country-by-country assessments and advisories as new information becomes available.

We have less than two months now until the year 2000. Even those groups that have already completed their Y2K work must now put great emphasis on creating and testing contingency plans, as the federal government has already done. Back in October, when the government made the transition to fiscal year 2000, we did encounter some small, date related computer problems. But the overriding lesson of that experience was that alert organizations, armed with good contingency plans, can fix Y2K disruptions in short order.

Thanks to the hard work of John Koskinen and his staff, and proactive leaders all across our nation, America is well on its way to being Y2K ready.

Now, over the next 52 days, we must continue to reach out to smaller organizations and local governments whose preparations are lagging behind. If we work together and use this time well, we can ensure that this Y2K computer problem will be remembered as the last headache of the 20th century, not the first crisis of the 21st.

Q Mr. President, as the budget negotiations drag on, members of Congress have indicated, of course, they want to get out of town tonight. You don't want to leave town until Sunday. I'm wondering if that is your personal deadline, and doesn't that give you a slight advantage over them?

THE PRESIDENT: Well, I don't really have a personal deadline. I did have good talks, as recently as this morning, with Senator Lott and Speaker Hastert. And I've been in constant contact, I saw the Democratic leaders yesterday and we visited briefly. I think we're making good progress. We made some real progress in putting 50,000 more police on our streets. We're making some progress in other areas. We still have to resolve our nation's commitment to 100,000 teachers. We're still working on the United Nations arrears and a number of other environmental issues. But I think we're making good progress, and I'm hopeful.

And we should know -- let me say, I know you have a lot of questions. But actually, you ought to know more by 12:00 p.m. or 1:00 p.m. today about how well we're doing. I think we'll know, certainly by the middle of the afternoon, if we're in any shape to finish more or less when the Congress would like to.

And let me also say I'm still very hopeful that we can pass the Africa trade bill and the Caribbean Basin Initiative. I'm still very hopeful we can pass this very important legislation to let people with disabilities to go into the workforce and carry their Medicaid. That could be one of the most important social pieces of legislation we've passed in a long time.

So we've got a lot to do. But I think we can -- if we just keep working, we'll get there.

Q Sir, could you tell us about the Greek postponement, what precipitated it, your level of concern for the security there?

THE PRESIDENT: Oh, I'm not concerned at all. You know, if the Greek government and the Secret Service aren't concerned, I'm not concerned.

I explained yesterday, the Greeks have a tradition of large demonstrations. And the communists, the anarchists, perhaps some others in Greece, want to demonstrate in large measure, I understand, because they strongly disagreed with my policy in Kosovo -- and presumably before that in Bosnia. And, you know, I think we were right, and I disagree with them. But the fact that they have the right to free speech doesn't concern me.

The Greek government asked us to put the trip when we did, I think, largely for other reasons. I think they thought it would be better for them, and that meetings we have might be more relevant if we did it after, rather than before, the OSCE meeting in Turkey. And so they asked to do it.

Whether the demonstrations had anything to do with it, I don't know. But they might have. But I'm not bothered about it. You know, it's going to happen. And you all get to take pictures of it.

Q Mr. President, can you give us a readout on the WTO talks in China? Any progress there?

THE PRESIDENT: No. I can't. All I know is that they are going on, and we're doing our best.

I've got to run to Pennsylvania. Thank you.

END 10:14 A.M. EST

-- Roland (nottelling@nowhere.com), November 10, 1999.

Words to live by "Never believe anything until it is officially denied". I think Klintons speach here qualifies.

-- VegasBoy (wereinforit@now.com), November 10, 1999.

Caught the last part of his speech. What I noticed was that all three of them were very serious looking. Then the first question was asked then they all started smiling. Because the question was not about Y2K they were all very relieved. I thought they were expecting questions about Y2K and when there were NO questions on the subject they were happy. Probably happy they wouldn't have to tell more lies.

-- Mr. Pinochle (pinochledd@aol.com), November 10, 1999.