1- If one business closed in every town and city because that business has computer problems in 2000. How many people would be unemployed?

2- If two business closed down because they couldn't get goods from other countries to keep their doors open. How many people would be unemployed?

3- If those people that are unemployed has money in the stock market or bank and have to use it to live on, How far will the market drop?

4- If every bank or big (large) corporation has (1) flawed embedded chip that causes them to close for (14) days or longer, how many people will be unemployed? What will happen on the 16th day?

5- On tues the 4th of 2000, at least (3) checks have been misprinted from every business ie wrong amount, bank # SS #, How many checks will that be?

5- If Bill-A-Bub and Hill-a-cry gets divided, Who gets the dog?

6- Now if you total all this up in a neat package, How many people will it take, and how much time to correct.

7- At least 25% of all programmers will leave their job in Dec 1999. will (72)hours be enough time allowed to by the goverment to get back on track to make sure us dummies don't have any problems?

I would really like to know.

Lon

-- Lon (Lon1937@aol.com), April 09, 1999

Answers

"5- If Bill-A-Bub and Hill-a-cry gets divided, Who gets the dog?"

You probably mean "get divorced," but I have to admit I like the idea of dividing them, maybe into several equal parts, & offering the parts to both their dog & cat, either raw or cooked. You could probably sell tickets to that.

To answer all your other questions: Who the hell knows?

-- maybe (some@bbq.sauce), April 09, 1999.

Hard to believe yours is a serious question(s) but I can offer a hint.

I've heard that the majority of SME's that do not conduct business for 6 weeks will have blown their profits for the year. An interesting thought.

-- Jim Standen (jstanden@ucalgary.ca), April 09, 1999.

'SME'? Please, what is this 'SME'?

-- Suave M. Elegante (SME@what.sit), April 09, 1999.

SME = small and medium employers/enterprises

-- No Spam Please (No_Spam_Please@anon_ymous.com), April 09, 1999.

Lon,
Very good questions ! The answers probably show why many very smart people are predicting a slow but persistant degradation of our economy and services during 2000.
AsFarAs Bill and Hillary.... who cares !

Note: Just a thought from a radical right-wing, paranoid, hoarding, gloom & doom, conspiracy nut !

-- WebRNot (webrnot@ncap13k.com), April 09, 1999.

The "usual" profit is far smaller - for example, a grocery store runs everything on only 2-4% "profit" - so if they are open 360 days a year - losing only 12 days business represents the year's entire "profit" margin.

A small-medium business can't close for more two or three days, and remain profitable; can't stay closed for than a week - and remain competitive and pay all its employees their usual wages; can't stay closed for more than two weeks and stay open even with reduced staff = layoff's and/or part-time-only staff.

Two weeks of "lost services" to a city will devastate an area economically. One week will cause many troubles, but can probably be recovered over time. A month? - ......

-- Robert A Cook, PE (Kennesaw, GA) (Cook.R@csaatl.com), April 12, 1999.

The kicker for SME's (small and medium employers/enterprises) has always been ...

CASH FLOW

If you think people barely live from paycheck to paycheck, you outta take a good look at how small businesses "live."

It's a delicate balance in the best of times.

Diane

-- Diane J. Squire (sacredspaces@yahoo.com), April 12, 1999.