IT HAPPENED A YEAR AGO TODAY!
It's just like deja vu all over again. Now you can relive the first year of the third millennium or the last year of the second millennium through the headlines that made news from January 1, 2000, through December 31, 2000.
January 1, 2000
Y2K LAYS AN EGG;
LIFE GOES ON!
The whole world was watching as clocks tolled midnight starting in the Pacific and circling the world back to the Pacific ... and by George nothing happened! Nuclear missiles didn't launch, planes didn't fall out of the sky, computers didn't melt down; hospitals, electric power plants, telecommunications, banking, and even your own PDA functioned normally. The world spent more than five hundred billion dollars to make sure nothing happened. Think of how many starving children that could feed. Bill Clinton's Y2K Czar John Koskinen boasted that he had "snookered" the world into preparing for a calamity that didn't calamatize. New Zealanders wept as they watched their NZ Reserve Bank shred 1.35 billion dollars worth of banknotes it had printed in case there was a cash shortage. The hardcore nuts said, "Yeah, just wait until January 1, 2001, the real new millennium."
January 2, 2000
DOTCOMGUY
GOES ON-LINE FOR 2000
Mitch Maddox, a 26-year-old former computer systems manager, inspired by the failure of Y2K to destroy the world, legally changed his name to DotComGuy. He moved into an empty house in Dallas with his laptop and said he wouldn't leave until 2001. He promised to live exclusively online, ordering in food, furniture, clothes, other necessities and star in his own 24-hour live video feed of his hermit's retreat. As the clock tolled midnight, Sunday, December 31, 2000, a somewhat subdued DotComGuy walked out of his retreat saying, "I wouldn't do that again," and rode off on his small motorized scooter into his own cyberspace. Later reports revealed he would legally change his name back to Mitch Maddox.
January 3, 2000
UFO SIGHTINGS
INSPIRE CHINESE
Possibly agitated over the failure of Y2K to cause a stir, poor farmers in the hills near Beijing, and in a dozen other Chinese cities, saw a multicolored object streak heavenward and declared it to be a UFO. Meanwhile, UFO researchers were looking into a reported alien abduction in Beijing. Many poor people throughout China perceived this as a fulfillment of Mao Tse-tung's prophecy, "Poverty gives rise to the desire for change, the desire for action and the desire for revolution."
January 4, 2000
BIG RETAILERS
DROP BIO-FOODS
The nation's two largest natural foods retailers -- Whole Foods Market and Wild Oats Markets -- cleared their shelves of many genetically engineered foods and vowed to stop selling bio-engineered corn, soy, canola oil and other products in 2000. Margaret Whittenberg, vice president at Whole Foods, said, "There's an absolute anger among customers that foods are being genetically modified and they don't know what ingredients are in their foods." Imagine that, people want to know what's in their food.
January 5, 2000
STOCKS DIVE ON
RATE HIKE FEAR
Fear of higher interest rates, coupled with profit taking in the new year, caused the Dow to drop 359.58 points and the NASDAQ to close down 229.46. It was the Dow's fourth-worst one-day point fall in history and the tech-heavy NASDAQ's biggest drop in its 29-year history. The plunge wiped out more than 600 billion dollars in stock market wealth, but, compared to what would happen to NASDAQ investors later in 2000, it was like a walk in the park.
January 6, 2000
LABOR DEPARTMENT
ISSUES HOME WORK
SAFETY RULES
Eager to protect at-home workers with traditional workplace safety protections, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration ordered "All employers, including those which have entered into 'work at home' agreements with employees, are responsible for complying with ... safety and health standards." OSHA also suggested that companies should periodically inspect at-home workers' quarters. After being ridiculed by Republicans who wondered whether dirty dishes, dust bunnies, and spider webs violated the OSHA rules, the Labor Department quickly withdrew the order and said, "Never mind."
January 7, 2000
MICROSOFT ADS
DRAW THOUSANDS
OF CUSTOMERS
Thousands of consumers in California rushed to retailers to take advantage of a unique advertising offer by Microsoft. The giant software company was offering $400 worth of electronic equipment free. Well, not exactly. It was offering $400 of free electronic stuff to consumers who signed up for three years of Microsoft Internet Service. But the ink on the ads was barely dry before some shrewd shoppers discovered they could cancel the Microsoft Network access immediately without penalty. Microsoft stopped the rebate program quickly but not before a lot of shoppers had taken advantage of the loophole. As Jenny Ives, a 20-year-old student in Pasadena who spent her in-store credit on a bread maker and combo TV/VCR, said, "It works, and Microsoft isn't gunning after anyone." Sorry Jenny, Microsoft knows where you live.
January 8, 2000
$3.8 TRILLION ESTIMATE
FOR FEDERAL SURPLUS
Washington politicians were salivating over the news that the federal budget surpluses for the next decade could be up to $800 billion larger than last year's $3 trillion estimate. Arguments broke out on Capitol Hill whether to use the windfall for tax cuts (the Republicans' fantasy), spending (the Democrats' fantasy), or debt reduction (Alan Greenspan's fantasy). And like Pinocchio's nose, the estimates of the federal surplus kept growing throughout the election year, finally peaking at $5 trillion. By the end of the year, talk of a slowing economy and possible recession started to cut into the size of the surplus. The moral to the story: spend your surpluses when you've got them.
January 9, 2000
RICH KIDS GET
SAT TEST BREAKS
The College Board, which administers the Scholastic Assessment Test (SAT) for college bound students, was intrigued by an increase of more than 50 percent since 1994 in the number of students who claimed a learning disability to win extended time or other special accommodations on the test. Upon closer look, it appeared that the bulk of the growth came from exclusive private schools and public schools in mostly wealthy, white suburbs. The Board wondered whether the predominance of rich, white, teenage boys among those claiming disabilities allowed privileged families to gain advantage on the exam that opens the door to college. Duh!
January 10, 2000
MEDICARE DISCOVERS
THAT DOCTORS CHEAT
In a stunning reversal, Medicare's spending growth slowed to its lowest level in the program's 25-year history. It seems that the Justice Department launched a high-profile campaign against health-care cheaters in a profession generally considered to be trustworthy. The government crackdown on healthcare fraud and abuse forced doctors, hospitals, home-health-care agencies, testing laboratories, and medical equipment providers to pay back nearly $500 million to the government for fraud in 1998 alone. But there's still a long way to go. A March 1995 article in Mother Jones suggested the annual loss is as high as $100 billion but that no one really knows how much money is stolen from the medical system every year. One physician, when asked about medical fraud, said he doubted it, and added, "Trust me, I'm a doctor."
January 11, 2000
UPSTART AMERICA ONLINE
BUYS VENERABLE TIME WARNER
America Online, a startup Internet company, announced it is buying Time Warner, the largest media and entertainment conglomerate in the world, for $164 billion. In 1989, Time Magazine, founded in 1923, merged with Warner Brothers, also founded in 1923, to form Time Warner. Meanwhile, in 1985, an Internet entrepreneur named Steve Case, founded America Online. Now, AOL, a 15-year-old startup, is the world's largest media megamonopoly. Henry Luce, who founded Time, Fortune, Life, and Sports Illustrated, and Harry Warner, who produced the first talkie, "The Jazz Singer," and film classics like "Casablanca," would never have sold out to Steve Case.
January 12, 2000
SEEING IS BELIEVING
EXCEPT ON CBS
Sharp-eyed viewers of the "CBS Evening News" broadcast live from Times Square on New Year's Eve, saw a billboard advertising CBS News out in the square behind Dan Rather. Hundreds of thousands of shivering celebrants standing in Times Square saw the NBC jumbotron and a Budweiser ad in the same location. CBS producers used electronic insertion technology to insert digital images promoting CBS over the NBC/Budweiser ads. So now you know. Just because you see something on the Tiffany Network, the home of legendary Edward R. Murrow and Walter Cronkite, the most trusted man in America, doesn't mean it is really there. It's not Big Brother you have to worry about, it's Madison Avenue.
January 13, 2000
AMERICAN POPULATION
TO DOUBLE BY 2100;
FEWER KILLER ASTEROIDS FOUND
The Census Bureau predicts that there will be 571 million Americans alive in the year 2100, about twice the number here in 2000. But, it assures us, not to worry. Our population density in 2100 will be just 161.4 people per square mile, or about a quarter of the current population density of Germany and the United Kingdom. Those expecting enforced population control from outer space, possibly including some hardcore followers of Dr. Paul Ehrlich, were disappointed to learn, also on this day in 2000, that there actually are fewer killer asteroids than thought. There are only 700 of those large "near-Earth" asteroids capable of slamming into Earth with catastrophic consequences. Previously it was thought there might be as many as 2000 of them with a 1 percent chance of them striking us in the next 1,000 years. Nonetheless, Professor David Rabinowitz, of Yale University, co-author of the study, warned, "I'm not getting any more sleep knowing this."
January 14, 2000
ASTRONOMERS DISCOVER
MILLIONS OF BLACK HOLES
NASA Astronomer Richard Mushotzky announced at the annual meeting of the American Astronomical Society that the universe contains at least 100 million "black holes," five times more than previously known. And added there are probably more than a billion more yet to be found. A black hole is a collapsed star that is so heavy and dense that nothing can escape its gravity. Matter and light simply disappear in its core. Almost a year later, to the date, on January 13, 2001, astronomers using the Hubble Space Telescope said they had evidence proving the once-hypothetical existence of black holes. They said the evidence was that they saw almost nothing when observing a black hole. They said matter disappears into a so-called event horizon. The event horizon is a gravitational point of no return, a one-way membrane through which matter and light leave the known universe forever. No astronomers ventured to say where the matter and light went after it left the known universe.
January 15, 2000
CENSORING THE LIST
OF CENSORED BOOKS
A rural Virginia school teacher posted a list of often-banned books on his classroom door "to inform students about that touchy area between art and government." The list includes books banned by school districts. A rural Virginia parent noticed the list, was offended by some of the books, filed a complaint with school officials, and succeeded in having the banned books list banned from the door. Books on the banned book list of 2000 distributed by the American Library Association include "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" by Mark Twin, "Of Mice and Men" by John Steinbeck, and the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling.
January 16, 2000
RICH ARE GETTING RICHER;
POOR ARE GETTING SCREWED
A new study by the California Policy Institute reveals that the income gap between the rich and poor in California is wider than at almost any time in history. While the poor are struggling -- they now bring home 21 percent less in real dollars than they did in 1969 -- the super rich haven't been this flush since the last days of the Roaring '20s, economists say. To put this into a national perspective, on the eve of the Civil War, one percent of the people owned 24 percent of America; then, by 1978, a new study revealed that the top one percent of the people owned 25 percent of America. The income gap stayed pretty steady for more than a century. But by the end of the 20th Century, there was a massive redistribution of wealth in America. And in 1999, the top one percent of the people owned 42 percent of America; 68 percent more than just a decade earlier! Stanford Jacoby, a UCLA labor economist ominously warned, "It is a truism going all the way back to the French Revolution, that when there are tremendous disparities in income and wealth, it creates social instability." And now the gap between rich and poor in America is greater than the gap in any other industrial nation in the world. Let them eat cake!
January 17, 2000
SOCIALIST WINS
ELECTION IN CHILE
Ricardo Lagos won a narrow victory to become Chile's first Socialist president since President Salvador Allende. For those with short memories, Allende, an acknowledged Marxist, was elected president of Chile, the oldest democracy in South America, in 1970. The United States, under the leadership of President Richard Nixon, was appalled at the idea of a freely elected Socialist president in the Western World. Nixon's national security adviser, Henry Kissinger, said, "I don't see why we need to stand by and watch a country go communist because of the irresponsibility of its own people." And they didn't. In September 1973, a CIA-back military junta, led by Chilean General Augusto Pinochet, and U.S. trained extremists, overthrew the government and assassinated Allende and several cabinet members. Pinochet became dictator and thousands of Chileans were tortured and killed. It took 28 years before the will of the people in Chile was finally heard.
January 18, 2000
46,000 PROTESTORS
MARCH IN SOUTH CAROLINA
OVER CONFEDERATE FLAG
46,000 people marched on the state capitol in Columbia, South Carolina, to protest the Confederate flag flying over the capitol building and the failure of the state to honor Martin Luther King, Jr., with a holiday. South Carolina is the only state that still flies the Confederate flag over its capitol and the only state that does not officially recognize King's birthday as a mandatory holiday. And their voices were heard, to a degree. In July, 2000, the Confederate flag was taken down from the capitol building but relocated to the Statehouse lawn. And the state officially celebrated the birth of Martin Luther King, Jr., on Monday, January 16, 2001. Meanwhile some flag supporters are still pressuring the state legislature to put the flag back on the dome.
January 19, 2000
MISSILE DEFENSE SYSTEM
FAILS CRITICAL TEST
A test of the controversial missile defense system, aka Star Wars, failed when a missile fired from the Marshall Islands in the Pacific failed to find and hit a mock warhead fired from Vandenberg AFB in California. After a series of test failures, strong opposition from our European allies as well as Russia, and a legal dispute whether the system violates an important arms control treaty, the Pentagon postponed further tests until 2001. Undeterred by such problems, in January, 2001, president-elect George W. Bush was still pushing for the super deluxe Ronald Reagan Star Wars Model System. When told it could cost up to $ 600 billion, Bush briskly pointed out, "We have a $ 4 trillion surplus." He also has staunch supporters in Colin Powell, his choice for Secretary of State, and Donald Rumsfeld, choice for Secretary of Defense, both of whom are ardent Star Wars supporters.
January 20, 2000
PEOPLE WHO LIVE
IN GLASS HOUSES
SHOULDN'T THROW STONES
The gray eminence of journalism was quick and merciless in its attack on President Clinton's drug policy advisor and the television networks for cooperating on anti-drug efforts. The New York Times' lead editorial said such arrangements could lead to "the possibility of censorship and state-sponsored propaganda." What it didn't mention was that the Times had its own cozy relationship with the drug control office; in fact, it received financial benefits in exchange for activities in conjunction with the White House. Not to mention $893,000 from the drug office for advertising. Howell Raines, the Times editorial page editor, said, in a manner reminiscent of Colonel Klink, "I knew absolutely nothing about this."
January 21, 2000
JESSE HELMS
FIRES AWAY AT
UNITED NATIONS
Jesse Helms, the cantankerous reactionary Republican Senator who won a reputation for his relentless criticism of the United Nations, was the first member of Congress to address the UN Security Council. He spent about an hour criticizing the UN and warning it that it must drastically reform if it "is going to survive into the 21st Century." In turn, members of the Security Council spent several hours criticizing Helms. The odd meeting was arranged by Richard Holbrooke, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nation, who hoped to get Helms to soften his stance on the UN. When asked if the meeting had changed his mind about the UN, Helms said, "Not really." But less than a year later, in early January 2001, Jesse Helms surprised UN supporters and critics alike by taking a conciliatorial approach to the UN and releasing $582 million in past U.S. dues to the UN. Kudos to Richard Holbrooke.
January 22, 2000
CREAM SODA
CHANGES COURSE
OF U.S. HISTORY
After more than a year on the run from coast to coast, building momentum and support for his Democratic primary race for the presidency, Bill Bradley suddenly was put on the defensive by new disclosures about his heart condition. Initially, on December 10, 1999, he had had to cancel some campaign appearances after suffering an irregular heartbeat known as atrial fibrillation. But after a brief respite he was back on the campaign trail promoting his agenda of universal health care, gun control, racial unity and campaign finance reform that resonated so well with the public. However the media focussed on his health and he finally was forced to disclose he had four more episodes of atrial fibrillation since December 10. He said it was the caffeine in cream soda, his favorite drink, that probably was the cause of his problem. He switched to Sunkist diet orange soda until he discovered it also had some caffeine in it. He finally withdrew from the race on Super Tuesday in March, abandoning the Democratic nomination to Al Gore.
January 23, 2000
FEDERAL ADVISORY WARNS
FUTURE OF STOCK
OPTIONS IN DOUBT
The Department of Labor issued a controversial advisory letter warning the public about possible drawbacks of stock options. Corporations, employer groups and congressional Republicans all rushed to demand that the Labor Department withdraw the advisory. They contend it would kill the increasingly popular way of attracting employees in a tight job market. Less than six months later, the stock market's plunge, especially in high-flying NASDAQ stocks, left millions of workers with worthless options or paper riches turned to pocket change. The dreams of high-tech workers about expensive cars and million-dollar mansions turned to nightmares over night.
January 24, 2000
POLITICIANS
AND NEWS MEDIA
DESCEND ON IOWA
It was Iowa's quadrennial day in the Sun -- the day of Iowa's election caucuses. It was packed at the Waveland Diner in Des Moines where NBC anchor Tom Brokaw said that if the reporters and editors covering the caucuses were voting in them, they would make up one percent of the electorate. A New York Times reporter said, "If one more journalist were to set foot here, Iowa would collapse under the weight of ink and wiring." The normally huge media turnout was amplified by the advent of cable news channels and the Web. All this fuss over Iowa and it was Florida that ran away with the fame. Unaware of the hazards of cream soda (see January 22), Bill Bradley noted, "This is the first step in several steps of the journey."
January 25, 2000
SUPREME COURT
OKAYS LIMITS ON
CAMPAIGN DONATIONS
The Supreme Court ruled that the government has broad power to limit how much money rich donors give to political candidates. Justice David H. Souter said, "Democracy works only if the people have faith in those who govern," adding, such faith could be shattered if the voters come to believe "large donors call the tune." Oh we of little faith. Let's see, on January 23, 2001, nearly a year later, the Los Angeles Times reported, "Last year a record $ 3 billion was spent on presidential and congressional campaigns, up from $ 2.2 billion four years earlier." And with Dubya in, I guess those donors are going to get to call one helluva tune!
January 26, 2000
BAD HAIR DAYS
AFFECT WHAT'S
IN YOUR HEAD TOO
A scholarly Yale University study of the psychology of bad hair days found that people's self-esteem goes awry when their hair is out of place. This was good news for Proctor & Gamble which paid for the study and planned to announce a new hair-care line called Physique. In November 2000, Cosmpolitan rhapsodized, "When it comes to hair this season, size does matter--and we're not just teasing. So jack up your mane's magnetism with these amazing megavolumizing tips." It then heralded Physique for "volumized vixen." All this was too much for Warren Clement, a critic for the Canadian Globe and Mail, who later said, "Until a television commercial for Physique popped up on Monday night (1/1/01), I had never heard the word 'volumize.' The announcer insisted this hair-care product would make women's hair fuller and give it body -- in short, would volumize it." Yale scholars must be elated with the impact of their research on the English language as well as on hair-product sales.
January 27, 2000
L.A. SCHOOL BOARD
KILLS NEW SCHOOL
FOR LOW INCOME STUDENTS
The Los Angeles Unified School District board stopped construction of the state-of-the-art Belmont Learning Complex in one of Los Angeles' poorest neighborhoods. The high school, at $170 million, would have been one of the most expensive schools built in the nation. It was being built on an abandoned oil field contaminated by methane gas and other toxic substances. Naturally. L.A. County Supervisor Gloria Molina later charged, "Close to 200 million of taxpayer dollars later, it is not the underground natural gases that have prevented the completion of the school, instead, poor management, outside political interests, and the new school board majority's pledge to deliver on a campaign promise to stop the 'Taj Mahal' from ever being built brought us to where we are today (12/18/2000)." On January 23, 2001, the L.A. Board of Education voted to seek proposals from the private sector to buy the half-finished high school or clean it up and complete it. Maybe the process could be speeded up by bussing the students into Beverly Hills High.
January 28, 2000
ICE CREAM CONE
SHORTAGE FEARED
FOR SUMMER 2000
Ice cream lovers were warned to expect a severe shortage of ice cream cones this coming summer. It was not because of Y2K but rather because the nation's number one cone producer, Ace Baking Co., went bankrupt. The ice cream cone doomsday prediction said Americans may be forced to eat ice cream with a spoon come the dog days of August and September. But, once again, the free enterprise system came galloping to the rescue. Cookie-and-cracker King Nabisco joined Keebler elves to guarantee that America won't suffer a summer ice cream cone shortage after all. Nabisco said it would boost its production of Comet and Oreo brand cones and Keebler took over Ace's cone production facilities in an auction and promised to crank up production immediately. Ice cream aficionados heaved a sigh of relief.
January 29, 2000
NUCLEAR WORKERS
DIE FROM EARLY
RADIATION EXPOSURE
The government finally admits that workers who helped make nuclear weapons were exposed to radiation that produced cancer and early deaths. Unfortunately this disclosure was a quarter century too late. In 1976, a government research scientist, Dr. Thomas Mancuso, discovered that even low levels of radiation, previously thought to be safe, were actually deadly. His warning was ignored and Dr. Mancuso was shoved into premature retirement and the government seized his research findings. It was one of the top censored stories of 1978.
January 30, 2000
U.N. MAKES FIRST
AGREEMENT ON
FRANKENSTEIN FOODS
At the United Nations, 138 countries produced the first international agreement on trade in genetically modified agricultural products. The ruling requires exporters to label shipments that may contain added genetic material with the phrase, "May contain living modified organism." And not a minute too soon. On September 19, 2000, The New York Times announced the government was investigating whether some genetically altered corn not approved for human consumption was used in taco shells sold in grocery stores. By November, Kraft Foods had recalled millions of taco shells and there was major concern about the agriculture industry's ability to track the mix of traditional and biotechnology crops from the field to the grocery store.
January 31, 2000
DOT-COMS ADS
FLOOD SUPER BOWL
BUT FLUNK TEST
Seventeen dot-com hopefuls spent an average of $2 million per 30-second television commercial during Super Bowl XXXIV but didn't get their money's worth. Ad legend Stan Freberg sneered, "The dot-com commercials had more incomplete passes than the game." It appears that they bet the farm and lost it. Of the 17 dot-coms in Super Bowl XXXIV, only three returned for Super Bowl XXXV. They spent an average of $2.3 million for a 30-second spot this time and one of them should have known better. Monster.com was the least popular dot-com advertiser in 2000 and didn't make the top 20 in 2001.
It's just like deja vu all over again. Now you can relive the first year of the third millennium or the last year of the second millennium through the headlines that made news from January 1, 2000, through December 31, 2000.
January 1, 2000
Y2K LAYS AN EGG;
LIFE GOES ON!
The whole world was watching as clocks tolled midnight starting in the Pacific and circling the world back to the Pacific ... and by George nothing happened! Nuclear missiles didn't launch, planes didn't fall out of the sky, computers didn't melt down; hospitals, electric power plants, telecommunications, banking, and even your own PDA functioned normally. The world spent more than five hundred billion dollars to make sure nothing happened. Think of how many starving children that could feed. Bill Clinton's Y2K Czar John Koskinen boasted that he had "snookered" the world into preparing for a calamity that didn't calamatize. New Zealanders wept as they watched their NZ Reserve Bank shred 1.35 billion dollars worth of banknotes it had printed in case there was a cash shortage. The hardcore nuts said, "Yeah, just wait until January 1, 2001, the real new millennium."
January 2, 2000
DOTCOMGUY
GOES ON-LINE FOR 2000
Mitch Maddox, a 26-year-old former computer systems manager, inspired by the failure of Y2K to destroy the world, legally changed his name to DotComGuy. He moved into an empty house in Dallas with his laptop and said he wouldn't leave until 2001. He promised to live exclusively online, ordering in food, furniture, clothes, other necessities and star in his own 24-hour live video feed of his hermit's retreat. As the clock tolled midnight, Sunday, December 31, 2000, a somewhat subdued DotComGuy walked out of his retreat saying, "I wouldn't do that again," and rode off on his small motorized scooter into his own cyberspace. Later reports revealed he would legally change his name back to Mitch Maddox.
January 3, 2000
UFO SIGHTINGS
INSPIRE CHINESE
Possibly agitated over the failure of Y2K to cause a stir, poor farmers in the hills near Beijing, and in a dozen other Chinese cities, saw a multicolored object streak heavenward and declared it to be a UFO. Meanwhile, UFO researchers were looking into a reported alien abduction in Beijing. Many poor people throughout China perceived this as a fulfillment of Mao Tse-tung's prophecy, "Poverty gives rise to the desire for change, the desire for action and the desire for revolution."
January 4, 2000
BIG RETAILERS
DROP BIO-FOODS
The nation's two largest natural foods retailers -- Whole Foods Market and Wild Oats Markets -- cleared their shelves of many genetically engineered foods and vowed to stop selling bio-engineered corn, soy, canola oil and other products in 2000. Margaret Whittenberg, vice president at Whole Foods, said, "There's an absolute anger among customers that foods are being genetically modified and they don't know what ingredients are in their foods." Imagine that, people want to know what's in their food.
January 5, 2000
STOCKS DIVE ON
RATE HIKE FEAR
Fear of higher interest rates, coupled with profit taking in the new year, caused the Dow to drop 359.58 points and the NASDAQ to close down 229.46. It was the Dow's fourth-worst one-day point fall in history and the tech-heavy NASDAQ's biggest drop in its 29-year history. The plunge wiped out more than 600 billion dollars in stock market wealth, but, compared to what would happen to NASDAQ investors later in 2000, it was like a walk in the park.
January 6, 2000
LABOR DEPARTMENT
ISSUES HOME WORK
SAFETY RULES
Eager to protect at-home workers with traditional workplace safety protections, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration ordered "All employers, including those which have entered into 'work at home' agreements with employees, are responsible for complying with ... safety and health standards." OSHA also suggested that companies should periodically inspect at-home workers' quarters. After being ridiculed by Republicans who wondered whether dirty dishes, dust bunnies, and spider webs violated the OSHA rules, the Labor Department quickly withdrew the order and said, "Never mind."
January 7, 2000
MICROSOFT ADS
DRAW THOUSANDS
OF CUSTOMERS
Thousands of consumers in California rushed to retailers to take advantage of a unique advertising offer by Microsoft. The giant software company was offering $400 worth of electronic equipment free. Well, not exactly. It was offering $400 of free electronic stuff to consumers who signed up for three years of Microsoft Internet Service. But the ink on the ads was barely dry before some shrewd shoppers discovered they could cancel the Microsoft Network access immediately without penalty. Microsoft stopped the rebate program quickly but not before a lot of shoppers had taken advantage of the loophole. As Jenny Ives, a 20-year-old student in Pasadena who spent her in-store credit on a bread maker and combo TV/VCR, said, "It works, and Microsoft isn't gunning after anyone." Sorry Jenny, Microsoft knows where you live.
January 8, 2000
$3.8 TRILLION ESTIMATE
FOR FEDERAL SURPLUS
Washington politicians were salivating over the news that the federal budget surpluses for the next decade could be up to $800 billion larger than last year's $3 trillion estimate. Arguments broke out on Capitol Hill whether to use the windfall for tax cuts (the Republicans' fantasy), spending (the Democrats' fantasy), or debt reduction (Alan Greenspan's fantasy). And like Pinocchio's nose, the estimates of the federal surplus kept growing throughout the election year, finally peaking at $5 trillion. By the end of the year, talk of a slowing economy and possible recession started to cut into the size of the surplus. The moral to the story: spend your surpluses when you've got them.
January 9, 2000
RICH KIDS GET
SAT TEST BREAKS
The College Board, which administers the Scholastic Assessment Test (SAT) for college bound students, was intrigued by an increase of more than 50 percent since 1994 in the number of students who claimed a learning disability to win extended time or other special accommodations on the test. Upon closer look, it appeared that the bulk of the growth came from exclusive private schools and public schools in mostly wealthy, white suburbs. The Board wondered whether the predominance of rich, white, teenage boys among those claiming disabilities allowed privileged families to gain advantage on the exam that opens the door to college. Duh!
January 10, 2000
MEDICARE DISCOVERS
THAT DOCTORS CHEAT
In a stunning reversal, Medicare's spending growth slowed to its lowest level in the program's 25-year history. It seems that the Justice Department launched a high-profile campaign against health-care cheaters in a profession generally considered to be trustworthy. The government crackdown on healthcare fraud and abuse forced doctors, hospitals, home-health-care agencies, testing laboratories, and medical equipment providers to pay back nearly $500 million to the government for fraud in 1998 alone. But there's still a long way to go. A March 1995 article in Mother Jones suggested the annual loss is as high as $100 billion but that no one really knows how much money is stolen from the medical system every year. One physician, when asked about medical fraud, said he doubted it, and added, "Trust me, I'm a doctor."
January 11, 2000
UPSTART AMERICA ONLINE
BUYS VENERABLE TIME WARNER
America Online, a startup Internet company, announced it is buying Time Warner, the largest media and entertainment conglomerate in the world, for $164 billion. In 1989, Time Magazine, founded in 1923, merged with Warner Brothers, also founded in 1923, to form Time Warner. Meanwhile, in 1985, an Internet entrepreneur named Steve Case, founded America Online. Now, AOL, a 15-year-old startup, is the world's largest media megamonopoly. Henry Luce, who founded Time, Fortune, Life, and Sports Illustrated, and Harry Warner, who produced the first talkie, "The Jazz Singer," and film classics like "Casablanca," would never have sold out to Steve Case.
January 12, 2000
SEEING IS BELIEVING
EXCEPT ON CBS
Sharp-eyed viewers of the "CBS Evening News" broadcast live from Times Square on New Year's Eve, saw a billboard advertising CBS News out in the square behind Dan Rather. Hundreds of thousands of shivering celebrants standing in Times Square saw the NBC jumbotron and a Budweiser ad in the same location. CBS producers used electronic insertion technology to insert digital images promoting CBS over the NBC/Budweiser ads. So now you know. Just because you see something on the Tiffany Network, the home of legendary Edward R. Murrow and Walter Cronkite, the most trusted man in America, doesn't mean it is really there. It's not Big Brother you have to worry about, it's Madison Avenue.
January 13, 2000
AMERICAN POPULATION
TO DOUBLE BY 2100;
FEWER KILLER ASTEROIDS FOUND
The Census Bureau predicts that there will be 571 million Americans alive in the year 2100, about twice the number here in 2000. But, it assures us, not to worry. Our population density in 2100 will be just 161.4 people per square mile, or about a quarter of the current population density of Germany and the United Kingdom. Those expecting enforced population control from outer space, possibly including some hardcore followers of Dr. Paul Ehrlich, were disappointed to learn, also on this day in 2000, that there actually are fewer killer asteroids than thought. There are only 700 of those large "near-Earth" asteroids capable of slamming into Earth with catastrophic consequences. Previously it was thought there might be as many as 2000 of them with a 1 percent chance of them striking us in the next 1,000 years. Nonetheless, Professor David Rabinowitz, of Yale University, co-author of the study, warned, "I'm not getting any more sleep knowing this."
January 14, 2000
ASTRONOMERS DISCOVER
MILLIONS OF BLACK HOLES
NASA Astronomer Richard Mushotzky announced at the annual meeting of the American Astronomical Society that the universe contains at least 100 million "black holes," five times more than previously known. And added there are probably more than a billion more yet to be found. A black hole is a collapsed star that is so heavy and dense that nothing can escape its gravity. Matter and light simply disappear in its core. Almost a year later, to the date, on January 13, 2001, astronomers using the Hubble Space Telescope said they had evidence proving the once-hypothetical existence of black holes. They said the evidence was that they saw almost nothing when observing a black hole. They said matter disappears into a so-called event horizon. The event horizon is a gravitational point of no return, a one-way membrane through which matter and light leave the known universe forever. No astronomers ventured to say where the matter and light went after it left the known universe.
January 15, 2000
CENSORING THE LIST
OF CENSORED BOOKS
A rural Virginia school teacher posted a list of often-banned books on his classroom door "to inform students about that touchy area between art and government." The list includes books banned by school districts. A rural Virginia parent noticed the list, was offended by some of the books, filed a complaint with school officials, and succeeded in having the banned books list banned from the door. Books on the banned book list of 2000 distributed by the American Library Association include "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" by Mark Twin, "Of Mice and Men" by John Steinbeck, and the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling.
January 16, 2000
RICH ARE GETTING RICHER;
POOR ARE GETTING SCREWED
A new study by the California Policy Institute reveals that the income gap between the rich and poor in California is wider than at almost any time in history. While the poor are struggling -- they now bring home 21 percent less in real dollars than they did in 1969 -- the super rich haven't been this flush since the last days of the Roaring '20s, economists say. To put this into a national perspective, on the eve of the Civil War, one percent of the people owned 24 percent of America; then, by 1978, a new study revealed that the top one percent of the people owned 25 percent of America. The income gap stayed pretty steady for more than a century. But by the end of the 20th Century, there was a massive redistribution of wealth in America. And in 1999, the top one percent of the people owned 42 percent of America; 68 percent more than just a decade earlier! Stanford Jacoby, a UCLA labor economist ominously warned, "It is a truism going all the way back to the French Revolution, that when there are tremendous disparities in income and wealth, it creates social instability." And now the gap between rich and poor in America is greater than the gap in any other industrial nation in the world. Let them eat cake!
January 17, 2000
SOCIALIST WINS
ELECTION IN CHILE
Ricardo Lagos won a narrow victory to become Chile's first Socialist president since President Salvador Allende. For those with short memories, Allende, an acknowledged Marxist, was elected president of Chile, the oldest democracy in South America, in 1970. The United States, under the leadership of President Richard Nixon, was appalled at the idea of a freely elected Socialist president in the Western World. Nixon's national security adviser, Henry Kissinger, said, "I don't see why we need to stand by and watch a country go communist because of the irresponsibility of its own people." And they didn't. In September 1973, a CIA-back military junta, led by Chilean General Augusto Pinochet, and U.S. trained extremists, overthrew the government and assassinated Allende and several cabinet members. Pinochet became dictator and thousands of Chileans were tortured and killed. It took 28 years before the will of the people in Chile was finally heard.
January 18, 2000
46,000 PROTESTORS
MARCH IN SOUTH CAROLINA
OVER CONFEDERATE FLAG
46,000 people marched on the state capitol in Columbia, South Carolina, to protest the Confederate flag flying over the capitol building and the failure of the state to honor Martin Luther King, Jr., with a holiday. South Carolina is the only state that still flies the Confederate flag over its capitol and the only state that does not officially recognize King's birthday as a mandatory holiday. And their voices were heard, to a degree. In July, 2000, the Confederate flag was taken down from the capitol building but relocated to the Statehouse lawn. And the state officially celebrated the birth of Martin Luther King, Jr., on Monday, January 16, 2001. Meanwhile some flag supporters are still pressuring the state legislature to put the flag back on the dome.
January 19, 2000
MISSILE DEFENSE SYSTEM
FAILS CRITICAL TEST
A test of the controversial missile defense system, aka Star Wars, failed when a missile fired from the Marshall Islands in the Pacific failed to find and hit a mock warhead fired from Vandenberg AFB in California. After a series of test failures, strong opposition from our European allies as well as Russia, and a legal dispute whether the system violates an important arms control treaty, the Pentagon postponed further tests until 2001. Undeterred by such problems, in January, 2001, president-elect George W. Bush was still pushing for the super deluxe Ronald Reagan Star Wars Model System. When told it could cost up to $ 600 billion, Bush briskly pointed out, "We have a $ 4 trillion surplus." He also has staunch supporters in Colin Powell, his choice for Secretary of State, and Donald Rumsfeld, choice for Secretary of Defense, both of whom are ardent Star Wars supporters.
January 20, 2000
PEOPLE WHO LIVE
IN GLASS HOUSES
SHOULDN'T THROW STONES
The gray eminence of journalism was quick and merciless in its attack on President Clinton's drug policy advisor and the television networks for cooperating on anti-drug efforts. The New York Times' lead editorial said such arrangements could lead to "the possibility of censorship and state-sponsored propaganda." What it didn't mention was that the Times had its own cozy relationship with the drug control office; in fact, it received financial benefits in exchange for activities in conjunction with the White House. Not to mention $893,000 from the drug office for advertising. Howell Raines, the Times editorial page editor, said, in a manner reminiscent of Colonel Klink, "I knew absolutely nothing about this."
January 21, 2000
JESSE HELMS
FIRES AWAY AT
UNITED NATIONS
Jesse Helms, the cantankerous reactionary Republican Senator who won a reputation for his relentless criticism of the United Nations, was the first member of Congress to address the UN Security Council. He spent about an hour criticizing the UN and warning it that it must drastically reform if it "is going to survive into the 21st Century." In turn, members of the Security Council spent several hours criticizing Helms. The odd meeting was arranged by Richard Holbrooke, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nation, who hoped to get Helms to soften his stance on the UN. When asked if the meeting had changed his mind about the UN, Helms said, "Not really." But less than a year later, in early January 2001, Jesse Helms surprised UN supporters and critics alike by taking a conciliatorial approach to the UN and releasing $582 million in past U.S. dues to the UN. Kudos to Richard Holbrooke.
January 22, 2000
CREAM SODA
CHANGES COURSE
OF U.S. HISTORY
After more than a year on the run from coast to coast, building momentum and support for his Democratic primary race for the presidency, Bill Bradley suddenly was put on the defensive by new disclosures about his heart condition. Initially, on December 10, 1999, he had had to cancel some campaign appearances after suffering an irregular heartbeat known as atrial fibrillation. But after a brief respite he was back on the campaign trail promoting his agenda of universal health care, gun control, racial unity and campaign finance reform that resonated so well with the public. However the media focussed on his health and he finally was forced to disclose he had four more episodes of atrial fibrillation since December 10. He said it was the caffeine in cream soda, his favorite drink, that probably was the cause of his problem. He switched to Sunkist diet orange soda until he discovered it also had some caffeine in it. He finally withdrew from the race on Super Tuesday in March, abandoning the Democratic nomination to Al Gore.
January 23, 2000
FEDERAL ADVISORY WARNS
FUTURE OF STOCK
OPTIONS IN DOUBT
The Department of Labor issued a controversial advisory letter warning the public about possible drawbacks of stock options. Corporations, employer groups and congressional Republicans all rushed to demand that the Labor Department withdraw the advisory. They contend it would kill the increasingly popular way of attracting employees in a tight job market. Less than six months later, the stock market's plunge, especially in high-flying NASDAQ stocks, left millions of workers with worthless options or paper riches turned to pocket change. The dreams of high-tech workers about expensive cars and million-dollar mansions turned to nightmares over night.
January 24, 2000
POLITICIANS
AND NEWS MEDIA
DESCEND ON IOWA
It was Iowa's quadrennial day in the Sun -- the day of Iowa's election caucuses. It was packed at the Waveland Diner in Des Moines where NBC anchor Tom Brokaw said that if the reporters and editors covering the caucuses were voting in them, they would make up one percent of the electorate. A New York Times reporter said, "If one more journalist were to set foot here, Iowa would collapse under the weight of ink and wiring." The normally huge media turnout was amplified by the advent of cable news channels and the Web. All this fuss over Iowa and it was Florida that ran away with the fame. Unaware of the hazards of cream soda (see January 22), Bill Bradley noted, "This is the first step in several steps of the journey."
January 25, 2000
SUPREME COURT
OKAYS LIMITS ON
CAMPAIGN DONATIONS
The Supreme Court ruled that the government has broad power to limit how much money rich donors give to political candidates. Justice David H. Souter said, "Democracy works only if the people have faith in those who govern," adding, such faith could be shattered if the voters come to believe "large donors call the tune." Oh we of little faith. Let's see, on January 23, 2001, nearly a year later, the Los Angeles Times reported, "Last year a record $ 3 billion was spent on presidential and congressional campaigns, up from $ 2.2 billion four years earlier." And with Dubya in, I guess those donors are going to get to call one helluva tune!
January 26, 2000
BAD HAIR DAYS
AFFECT WHAT'S
IN YOUR HEAD TOO
A scholarly Yale University study of the psychology of bad hair days found that people's self-esteem goes awry when their hair is out of place. This was good news for Proctor & Gamble which paid for the study and planned to announce a new hair-care line called Physique. In November 2000, Cosmpolitan rhapsodized, "When it comes to hair this season, size does matter--and we're not just teasing. So jack up your mane's magnetism with these amazing megavolumizing tips." It then heralded Physique for "volumized vixen." All this was too much for Warren Clement, a critic for the Canadian Globe and Mail, who later said, "Until a television commercial for Physique popped up on Monday night (1/1/01), I had never heard the word 'volumize.' The announcer insisted this hair-care product would make women's hair fuller and give it body -- in short, would volumize it." Yale scholars must be elated with the impact of their research on the English language as well as on hair-product sales.
January 27, 2000
L.A. SCHOOL BOARD
KILLS NEW SCHOOL
FOR LOW INCOME STUDENTS
The Los Angeles Unified School District board stopped construction of the state-of-the-art Belmont Learning Complex in one of Los Angeles' poorest neighborhoods. The high school, at $170 million, would have been one of the most expensive schools built in the nation. It was being built on an abandoned oil field contaminated by methane gas and other toxic substances. Naturally. L.A. County Supervisor Gloria Molina later charged, "Close to 200 million of taxpayer dollars later, it is not the underground natural gases that have prevented the completion of the school, instead, poor management, outside political interests, and the new school board majority's pledge to deliver on a campaign promise to stop the 'Taj Mahal' from ever being built brought us to where we are today (12/18/2000)." On January 23, 2001, the L.A. Board of Education voted to seek proposals from the private sector to buy the half-finished high school or clean it up and complete it. Maybe the process could be speeded up by bussing the students into Beverly Hills High.
January 28, 2000
ICE CREAM CONE
SHORTAGE FEARED
FOR SUMMER 2000
Ice cream lovers were warned to expect a severe shortage of ice cream cones this coming summer. It was not because of Y2K but rather because the nation's number one cone producer, Ace Baking Co., went bankrupt. The ice cream cone doomsday prediction said Americans may be forced to eat ice cream with a spoon come the dog days of August and September. But, once again, the free enterprise system came galloping to the rescue. Cookie-and-cracker King Nabisco joined Keebler elves to guarantee that America won't suffer a summer ice cream cone shortage after all. Nabisco said it would boost its production of Comet and Oreo brand cones and Keebler took over Ace's cone production facilities in an auction and promised to crank up production immediately. Ice cream aficionados heaved a sigh of relief.
January 29, 2000
NUCLEAR WORKERS
DIE FROM EARLY
RADIATION EXPOSURE
The government finally admits that workers who helped make nuclear weapons were exposed to radiation that produced cancer and early deaths. Unfortunately this disclosure was a quarter century too late. In 1976, a government research scientist, Dr. Thomas Mancuso, discovered that even low levels of radiation, previously thought to be safe, were actually deadly. His warning was ignored and Dr. Mancuso was shoved into premature retirement and the government seized his research findings. It was one of the top censored stories of 1978.
January 30, 2000
U.N. MAKES FIRST
AGREEMENT ON
FRANKENSTEIN FOODS
At the United Nations, 138 countries produced the first international agreement on trade in genetically modified agricultural products. The ruling requires exporters to label shipments that may contain added genetic material with the phrase, "May contain living modified organism." And not a minute too soon. On September 19, 2000, The New York Times announced the government was investigating whether some genetically altered corn not approved for human consumption was used in taco shells sold in grocery stores. By November, Kraft Foods had recalled millions of taco shells and there was major concern about the agriculture industry's ability to track the mix of traditional and biotechnology crops from the field to the grocery store.
January 31, 2000
DOT-COMS ADS
FLOOD SUPER BOWL
BUT FLUNK TEST
Seventeen dot-com hopefuls spent an average of $2 million per 30-second television commercial during Super Bowl XXXIV but didn't get their money's worth. Ad legend Stan Freberg sneered, "The dot-com commercials had more incomplete passes than the game." It appears that they bet the farm and lost it. Of the 17 dot-coms in Super Bowl XXXIV, only three returned for Super Bowl XXXV. They spent an average of $2.3 million for a 30-second spot this time and one of them should have known better. Monster.com was the least popular dot-com advertiser in 2000 and didn't make the top 20 in 2001.
posted by Carl at
7:21 AM
