"The private sector has all the incentive to get the job done right, but the government has none of those incentives. Bureaucrats get paid whether the government works or not, " says TIME assistant managing editor Philip Elmer-DeWitt. Nor is the government so red-faced with shame over its Y2K slip-up that it has resolved to turn over a new leaf -- or even name another self-imposed deadline. Still, don't let visions of muddled air traffic controllers dampen your New Year 2000 celebration plans yet. Cars will still run on highways, and planes -- knock on wood -- will still take off, albeit with delays. Says Elmer-DeWitt: "The good news is that the country seems to work whether or not the government does." The feds can only hope so.
The U.S. Admits to Digital Delinquency
-
Share
-
Read Later
-
It came as no suprise that the government would miss its self-imposed March
31 deadline for Y2K compliance. Like a child badly in need of a
parent-teacher conference, the government has problems meeting deadlines.
The Y2K status report announcement, made late Wednesday by the White House
Office of Management and Budget, was succinct. Three federal agencies --
the Transportation Department, Health and Human Services, and the Agency
for International Development -- have made little or no progress in
winnowing out the Y2K bug. Only 80 percent of key government computers have
been given a clean bill of health. The cost for ensuring that the
government gets in line digitally by 2000 has been nudged upward by $400
million, to a grand total of $6.8 billion. No catastrophes are expected.