Have you wondered why the store-shelves are so sparse, and you can’t find what you want? The global supply-chain is breaking down at each turn and America is falling down. Derek Thompson, staff-writer at the Atlantic, wrote an interesting article, early in October on: “America is running out of everything; the Everything Shortage”. Some prescriptions are becoming sparse, paper products, car-parts, building supplies, even Covid-19 test kits. Tons of products are sitting in shipping-containers, stacked on barges in our harbors, and there’s a shortage of port-workers, trucks & truckers. Why? Several reasons: supply-chains have backorders for parts, vinyl for seats & resin to make roof-caps for trucks; many truckers retired, there’s been longtime recruitment issues, and lots of driving-school classes were cancelled due to Covid-19. The U.S. Dept. of Transportation reached out to the trucking industry, and now some schools around the nation are offering 4-week classes for truckdrivers. It’s estimated that the U.S. has a shortage of around 60,000 drivers. Supply-chains depend on containers, ports, railroads & trucks. Containers stacked in ports require dockworkers to unload & distribute products, and truckers to drive materials between warehouses and across the nation to stores. There’s also a scarcity of shipping-containers available. Pre-pandemic, reserving a mid-sized cargo-container cost $2500, now it costs $25,000. Econ 101 lesson: high demand plus limited supply equals soaring prices.
Then there’s the labor market; job openings abound, and employers struggle to keep businesses running & factories operating at full- capacity. It’s NOT about lazy, picky, greedy workers; that’s a false FOX talking-point. Over 700,000 Americans died of Covid-19, with over 40 million coronavirus-case survivors, many still suffering long-hauler symptoms. Many older employees retired completely, I did; and many parents can’t work because they can’t find daycare, which is extremely expensive! Hiring & training hundreds of thousands of new workers in a short window of time, during a pandemic, is very difficult; we should all expect to exercise more patience and understanding going forward. Delta-variant hit Asia hard, causing shutdowns at semi-conductor factories across Asia, just as demand for cars & electronics in America has spiked. We need LESS RELIANCE ON GOODS FROM CHINA! We need Biden’s Build Back Better plan approved, fully-funded & implemented, which HAD included billions of dollars to restore manufacturing in America, invest in basic research & development, clean energy, and to strengthen domestic supply-chains. The pandemic has changed a great many things & circumstances. This crises is an opportunity to emphasize a new philosophy of ‘supply-side progressivism’.
Trish Forsyth Voss
Nov 1 2021
America is falling down … Time for some supply-side progressivism.
Have you wondered why the store-shelves are so sparse, and you can’t find what you want? The global supply-chain is breaking down at each turn and America is falling down. Derek Thompson, staff-writer at the Atlantic, wrote an interesting article, early in October on: “America is running out of everything; the Everything Shortage”. Some prescriptions are becoming sparse, paper products, car-parts, building supplies, even Covid-19 test kits. Tons of products are sitting in shipping-containers, stacked on barges in our harbors, and there’s a shortage of port-workers, trucks & truckers. Why? Several reasons: supply-chains have backorders for parts, vinyl for seats & resin to make roof-caps for trucks; many truckers retired, there’s been longtime recruitment issues, and lots of driving-school classes were cancelled due to Covid-19. The U.S. Dept. of Transportation reached out to the trucking industry, and now some schools around the nation are offering 4-week classes for truckdrivers. It’s estimated that the U.S. has a shortage of around 60,000 drivers. Supply-chains depend on containers, ports, railroads & trucks. Containers stacked in ports require dockworkers to unload & distribute products, and truckers to drive materials between warehouses and across the nation to stores. There’s also a scarcity of shipping-containers available. Pre-pandemic, reserving a mid-sized cargo-container cost $2500, now it costs $25,000. Econ 101 lesson: high demand plus limited supply equals soaring prices.
Then there’s the labor market; job openings abound, and employers struggle to keep businesses running & factories operating at full- capacity. It’s NOT about lazy, picky, greedy workers; that’s a false FOX talking-point. Over 700,000 Americans died of Covid-19, with over 40 million coronavirus-case survivors, many still suffering long-hauler symptoms. Many older employees retired completely, I did; and many parents can’t work because they can’t find daycare, which is extremely expensive! Hiring & training hundreds of thousands of new workers in a short window of time, during a pandemic, is very difficult; we should all expect to exercise more patience and understanding going forward. Delta-variant hit Asia hard, causing shutdowns at semi-conductor factories across Asia, just as demand for cars & electronics in America has spiked. We need LESS RELIANCE ON GOODS FROM CHINA! We need Biden’s Build Back Better plan approved, fully-funded & implemented, which HAD included billions of dollars to restore manufacturing in America, invest in basic research & development, clean energy, and to strengthen domestic supply-chains. The pandemic has changed a great many things & circumstances. This crises is an opportunity to emphasize a new philosophy of ‘supply-side progressivism’.
Trish Forsyth Voss
By spiritspeak • Uncategorized 0