Greenspan Shows Us the Money - year 2000 transition; US Federal Reserve Board boosts its cash reserve inventory - Government Activity

In a striking sign that someone inside the beltway is taking the Year 2000 problem seriously, the nation's banker, the U.S. Federal Reserve Board, is boosting its cash reserve inventory from $150 billion to $200 billion during its l999 fiscal year. The Fed's 1999 cash print order for the period of October 1998 through September 1999 is being placed now.

According to Gartner Group interpretations, the Fed is making its move to cover the surge in demand that it anticipates when we all rush to our automated teller machines next fall. Alan Greenspan and his fellow board members are also expecting heavy seasonal holiday spending around the end of 1999. (Can that be to celebrate the mother and father of all New Year's parties? Or will it be to pay for travel to a primitive place very, very far away where computer use means someone there uses a book-sized calculator?)

Gartner's reading: "Even though significant infrastructure and utility failures should be rare in the United States, the potential for some spotty regional problems may exist and needs to be considered." The advisory service recommends that all enterprises assess their business dependency risks and immediately implement contingencies related to those risks.

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