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Y2K.....10/21/99
By: Adam May
 
Well, I'm sure that unless you have been living in a cave for the last couple of years, you've heard of the menacing Y2K crisis.  There are several things, however, that you may not have read about Y2K in your daily newspaper.
 
History:
 
Let's start at the beginning.  Y2K, standing for "Year 2000", is a problem with computers.  Computer programmers in the early days needed to save as much space as possible on the hard drive for more important things than the date (or so they thought!).  In order to do this, they condensed the year in computer programs to a two digit number.  The question of what would happen when the clocks struck midnight December 31, 1999, and the year became 2000, or in computer programs, "00".  The fear was that the computer would then think it was 1900, and mess everything up.  The U.S. Government, the F.A.A., and banks worldwide have been preparing for this for several years.  Everyone says the same thing: "We feel ready, but cannot give guarantees."
 
Theories:
Now that we have gone through the boring part, let's get to the good stuff, the dirt on Y2K.  First of all, Y2K is the biggest money-maker of all-time.  Millions upon millions of dollars are being handed over for clothes, jewelry, stationery, hats, and anything else that can have Y2K pasted on it.  Was this a planned event, or just making the best of a bad situation?
 
Second of all, Y2K is expected to boost our economy in the U.S..  In smaller, less economically stable countries throughout the world, investors are expected to panic about the security of their money, and it is expected that they will tie up the majority of their funds in U.S. securities, one of the safest places to invest.  While this may affect the economies of those smaller countries, the U.S. economy will be booming, and we may even see a considerable drop in mortgage rates around Thanksgiving, causing a refinance boom unlike no other in history.
 
You are probably asking yourself, are these just super-market tabloid stories, or are they possibilities of what will come of our beloved country.  Let me assure you that they are real and true.  How do I know?  ELVIS TOLD ME!!!  Stay tuned for more next week!