Y2K software and services, but unlike his they were publicly traded. These stocks had risen steadily during the last three years, but in the month of December had leveled off. With more business than they could handle, Y2K companies were unable to take on new clients because the world had run out of programmers. Copeland didnât care. In the last year heâd doubled programmersâ salaries in order to keep them, and passed the cost on to his clients. Today he was merely curious. In the past week heâd liquidated every stock and bond he owned, cashed out everything, and reduced his portfolio to zero. Tomorrow, if his scheme worked out the way it was supposed to, he wouldnât need equity.
Copeland tried to distract himself by watching the stock exchanges gear up for the opening bell. Since June every major corporation in America had been put on the spot and forced to declare itself Year 2000 compliant or not. Corporations unable to prove their computers were ready for the 21st Century had seen their stocks tumble to all-time lows. Some companies threatened with Y2K liability suits had tossed in the towel, declared bankruptcy and gone out of business. The corporate landscape was being recontoured in surprising ways. IBM was stronger than ever, but General Motors was dead in the water, a ship without a rudder. Like many large companies, GM had so many computers in so many divisions and was such a bureaucratic mess that the company simply didnât know how many systems it had. One of its subsidiaries, GM Electronics, which manufactured computer chips for GM vehicles, had cranked out millions of chips infected with the millennium bug, and instead of dealing with the problem with engineers and technicians, GM had turned the fiasco over to lawyers and spin doctors. Meanwhile, computer-driven robots in GM assembly plants were poised to quit at midnight, although even if they functioned properly, they wouldnât have much to do because only a fraction of the companyâs 1300 suppliers were Year 2000 compliant. In the last few weeks GM had frantically tried to install new systems, but had run up against one of the harsher truths of the cybernetic world: any new system will be 100% over budget and take twice as long to install and test as any projection. The entire supply chain and sophisticated just-in-time delivery systems were going to break.
So what, Copeland thought. I drive a Porsche. GM deserves to die.
At 8:46, fourteen minutes before the stock markets were to open, Americaâs stockbrokers, day traders, and millions of ordinary citizens who owned shares in the global economy were in their hot seats. Their computers were humming and telephone headsets chattering away with the peculiar jargon that drives the worldâs biggest pile of money and paper. The Internet and the floor of the New York Stock Exchanges were abuzz with the usual mix of fact and rumor, though the facts had more impact and the rumors were more intense than anyone could remember. The key fact, of course, was the reality of the millennium bug, a topic that had been debated for years. Virtually everyone in the financial marketplace was tracking the bugâs progress and trying to second-guess its effects on the portfolios they managed. Players were holding their breath, waiting to see what would happen next.
They didnât have to wait long. At 8:47 all the European exchanges simultaneously cut short trading and closed. At 8:49 the Federal Republic of Germany declared a bank holiday and closed all German banks. Like dominoes, the rest of Europe followed suit. During the previous year, much of the continent, particularly Germany, had persisted in belittling the millennium bug as a concoction of hysterical alarmists. Theyâd ignored the bug, and thousands of their mission-critical computers were not Year 2000 compliant. After all, they were Europeans, older and wiser than the rest of the planet, and they knew better.
Copeland tried to distract himself by watching the stock exchanges gear up for the opening bell. Since June every major corporation in America had been put on the spot and forced to declare itself Year 2000 compliant or not. Corporations unable to prove their computers were ready for the 21st Century had seen their stocks tumble to all-time lows. Some companies threatened with Y2K liability suits had tossed in the towel, declared bankruptcy and gone out of business. The corporate landscape was being recontoured in surprising ways. IBM was stronger than ever, but General Motors was dead in the water, a ship without a rudder. Like many large companies, GM had so many computers in so many divisions and was such a bureaucratic mess that the company simply didnât know how many systems it had. One of its subsidiaries, GM Electronics, which manufactured computer chips for GM vehicles, had cranked out millions of chips infected with the millennium bug, and instead of dealing with the problem with engineers and technicians, GM had turned the fiasco over to lawyers and spin doctors. Meanwhile, computer-driven robots in GM assembly plants were poised to quit at midnight, although even if they functioned properly, they wouldnât have much to do because only a fraction of the companyâs 1300 suppliers were Year 2000 compliant. In the last few weeks GM had frantically tried to install new systems, but had run up against one of the harsher truths of the cybernetic world: any new system will be 100% over budget and take twice as long to install and test as any projection. The entire supply chain and sophisticated just-in-time delivery systems were going to break.
So what, Copeland thought. I drive a Porsche. GM deserves to die.
At 8:46, fourteen minutes before the stock markets were to open, Americaâs stockbrokers, day traders, and millions of ordinary citizens who owned shares in the global economy were in their hot seats. Their computers were humming and telephone headsets chattering away with the peculiar jargon that drives the worldâs biggest pile of money and paper. The Internet and the floor of the New York Stock Exchanges were abuzz with the usual mix of fact and rumor, though the facts had more impact and the rumors were more intense than anyone could remember. The key fact, of course, was the reality of the millennium bug, a topic that had been debated for years. Virtually everyone in the financial marketplace was tracking the bugâs progress and trying to second-guess its effects on the portfolios they managed. Players were holding their breath, waiting to see what would happen next.
They didnât have to wait long. At 8:47 all the European exchanges simultaneously cut short trading and closed. At 8:49 the Federal Republic of Germany declared a bank holiday and closed all German banks. Like dominoes, the rest of Europe followed suit. During the previous year, much of the continent, particularly Germany, had persisted in belittling the millennium bug as a concoction of hysterical alarmists. Theyâd ignored the bug, and thousands of their mission-critical computers were not Year 2000 compliant. After all, they were Europeans, older and wiser than the rest of the planet, and they knew better.
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