Remember Y2K?

[yardwork]

Remember how many people were worried that everything electronic would stop dead at midnight on January 1, 2000 because of the Y2K bug? Remember how nothing happened?

Well, nothing happened because of the months and years of work put in by software engineers and lots of other people so that the Y2K bug would be fixed leading up to January 1, 2000. So when midnight came pretty much everything continued like normal - except that without all the work beforehand, things would have been very messed up.

I think that the president is doing the same thing with the question of cutting social security and Medicare right now. By leaking indications that he might cut those programs, he's stirred up a very strong reaction from Democrats all over the country. As long as those Democrats make a lot of noise - call Congress, call the White House, tell their representatives that they won't vote for them again if they cut social security or Medicare - then we can come out the other side of this and "nothing will happen."

If we sit around and assume that the president will do what we want him to do all by himself, then social security and Medicare will be cut, no question about it. Right now the Republicans have most of the power. The only way for us to even things out a little is to make a lot of noise.

[Arkansas Granny]

1. I'm not sure I understand what you're saying. So you think that Obama is just playing us

by making us think he might cut SS and MC so we will get stirred up and make noise? Does this have anything to do with the way he plays chess?

[Drale]

3. He's saying that leaking the idea that Obama might cut Social Security

it has gotten a response the trumps the GOP meam that the "people" want cuts not tax increases.

[vaberella]

4. I don't remember when Obama said he would cut SS/Medicare/Medicaid.

So I don't know where you're getting that you're being played.

[Mojorabbit]

6. I tbelieve

there were word games involving slash and cut.

[Arkansas Granny]

9. I was responding to the statement made by the OP.

"I think that the president is doing the same thing with the question of cutting social security and Medicare right now. By leaking indications that he might cut those programs, he's stirred up a very strong reaction from Democrats all over the country."

[yardwork]

10. Yes, I think that Obama and the Democrats are stirring people up on purpose.

This is a deadly serious fight on our hands. Right now the Republicans control not just the House, they control the message. Obama seeks a weapon - the will of the people. The only way to get that is to stir people up. This is classic politics. Politicians routinely say one thing in public while privately hoping that the opposite will happen. Happens all the time.

I've never been a fan of the "Obama is just playing chess" idea. I don't agree with many things he's done. This time, though, I believe that he genuinely wants political cover.

Of course if I'm wrong the only hope is for us to make noise, so there you go.

[eridani]

2. Excellent analogy. I am also reminded of Rachel Carson making all that silly noise

--about DDT and the thinning of bird eggshells. And see--that didn't cause any extinctions after all! But that was BECAUSE she made a fuss and inspired corrective action in time.

[yardwork]

11. Very good point. Imagine how much worse things would be without the Clean Water Act.

The Clean Air Act, OSHA, all those government regulations that help keep us safe. It's easy to become complacent.

[Mojorabbit]

5. There was no reason to tie it to the deficit negotiations

in the first place. He has the bully pulpit to stand there and assure the people that he will be against ANY cuts to the program, no ifs ands or buts.

[yardwork]

12. He can't say that publicly. The corporations would not support his reelection.

[lamp_shade]

7. K&R. We've seen this done many times and it's why I don't get my knickers all in a twist.

[yardwork]

13. Well, I'm suggesting that we should get our knickers twisted. If we ignore this, we lose.

I'm not suggesting that we do nothing. I'm saying that we need to make some noise.

[Name removed]

8. Deleted message

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Enrique]

14. this is the imaginary Obama

the one that isn't really doing all the things he's doing.

[Philippine expat]

15. I understand what you are saying

however Y2K was a joke,
The fact that nothing happened had nothing to do with the work put in to prevent it,
I base this on the fact that there were no reports of failures in 3rd world countries
where they did little or nothing to prepare

[OhioBlue]

19. Y2K was no joke

many, many computer programs only had 2 places for the year - 72 instead of 1972 or 88 instead of 1988 and made calculations or if/and - then statements based on the XX entry. Just looking at the simple things in the company I worked at for example... invoicing - enter the date DDMMYY and add 30 days for date due or enter hours worked DDMMYY for computation for check on pay date DDMMYY - ALL coding had to be changed to DDMMYYYY - this was just on the very small scale... programs throughout EVERYTHING had DDMMYY coding. It ALL had to be changed or we would have had serious, serious problems.

As far as 3rd world countries... my guess is 1. they're not as dependent on computerized systems as we are and 2. when some of their systems did become computerized, it was in a more modern time when coding already started switching to DDMMYYYY.

[yardwork]

21. Thank you for this excellent summary.

[larwdem]

16. Its called `fear mongering

:puke: :nuke:

[eridani]

18. Without fearmongering, Y2K would have been a major disaster

Precisely because people took the threat seriously, enough programming hours were put in by people all over the world to fix the majority of problem code lines.

[yardwork]

20. Exactly. Thank you.

[yardwork]

22. It's not fear mongering. The threat is real. Republicans want to eliminate all government programs

The Republicans are in power, and they have a very real agenda - they want to eliminate all government programs that don't directly enrich corporations. Ignore this at your peril.

[Cereal Kyller]

17. Reccing with hope that you're right

Retching with fear that you're wrong. :puke:

[yardwork]

23. Either way our game plan is the same. We must fight.