Derek Thompson, The Atlantic: America Is Running Out of Everything
Is it just me, or does it feel like America is running out of everything?
I visited CVS last week to pick up some at-home COVID-19 tests. They’d been sold out for a week, an employee told me. So I asked about paper towels. “We’re out of those too,” he said. “Try Walgreens.” I drove to a Walgreens that had paper towels. But when I asked a pharmacist to fill some very common prescriptions, he told me the store had run out. “Try the Target up the road,” he suggested. Target’s pharmacy had the meds, but its front area was alarmingly barren, like the canned-food section of a grocery store one hour before a hurricane makes landfall.
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WNU Editor: I had to replace the oil burner for my furnace. It took six weeks to get the burner.
The GF works for a company that manufactures high-end swimming pools. They are months behind in finishing their orders.
There is clearly something wrong with the supply chain, and I do not see it getting better anytime soon.
20 comments:
What’s wrong with the supply chain? I’ll tell you.
Europe, USA, China, Japan governments wildly overreacted to a modestly deadly virus by shutting down their economies for weeks or months on end. This caused businesses to cancel orders….remember the meaning of lead times.
Then in the USA, government paid millions of workers to stop working, for an entire year.
Lack of supply, lack of labor.
Now governments have spent wildly and irresponsibly at the same time.
Too few goods chased by too many dollars, yen, euros, yuans.
Inflation.
Part of it is the supply chain disruption brought about by Covid, and which will take probably two years to normalize (several container ports are jammed packed with backlogged ships that have waited for weeks, some over a month, to offload). Another factor might be fear of more Covid lockdowns. BTW within the last month or so some warehouse stores are once again running short of basics, although supplies will differ depending on state/city. This is NOT a rumor but a fact I can vouch for.
The time when Amazon was endeavouring for next day delivery is a hazy memory. Now your lucky if an electronics order especially is filled.
It is called COVID lockdown. Greedy politicians, Big-pharma execs, and preeners at NIH could not see beyond the reflection in their mirror.
The scientific literacy rate in biological sciences is low, so they are taking advantage of it to lie to obtain power. Two pharma execs entered the Forbes list of richest people by selling pharma stock.
Just in Time (JIT) supply chain is a pull system. You think Occasional Cortex, Plagiarist Joe or others understand the difference between a pull system and one governed by diktat?
Idiots are firing doctors ands nurses because they won't get shots. Many have already had COVID and so have immunity. They think they are going to make up the difference by giving green cards to medical staff from other countries. All because what the puppet masters behind slow Joe came up with. "Any business with more than 100 people..."
Not only will they create temporary (maybe longer) shortage in medical staffing, but they will cause one in trucking too. There is already a truckers shortage and slow Joe is making it worse.
Is the U.S. labor market for truck drivers broken? (2019)
https://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/2019/article/is-the-us-labor-market-for-truck-drivers-broken.htm
HOME » TRUCKER LIFE » THE TRUCK DRIVER SHORTAGE – THE DIRTY TRUTH NO ONE TALKS ABOUT
THE TRUCK DRIVER SHORTAGE – THE DIRTY TRUTH NO ONE TALKS ABOUT
https://www.smart-trucking.com/truck-driver-shortage/
Trucking is too blue collar and too far removed from people inside the Beltway to know about or to care about. When has anyone in Washington interacted with a trucker let alone get near one outside perhaps a campaign event? When has a Beltway type been in a truckstop? Has a Belter ever been at a loading dock in the normal course of a day? Have Belters ever lived next to a trucker?
The world economy’s shortage problem |
Truckers are getting six-figure salaries as food suppliers scramble to find drivers – and it's pushing up the price of fryer oil and chocolate by as much as 50%
https://www.businessinsider.com/labor-shortage-food-suppliers-prices-cost-wages-drivers-truckers-salaries-2021-6
Neighbor was a trucker. He did short haul. He would delver in a 400 or 500 mile radius, which covered several states. That is optimal. It means no sleeping in trucks at truck stops or hotels. It means seeing family every night and/or afternoon. It keeps family structure intact.
Railroads and trucking are usually competing industries. In one huge case they are not. There is a rail head which is a terminus from a high capacity line from the Port of Los Angeles to Atlanta. The railroad ships cargo to the rail head and shorthaul truckers haul it all over the Southeast. To me it is optimal, keep as many people home every night.
Howe many congress people know about it? The sociological effects are huge! Studying such mundane problems are beneath most in Washington. It is not like a congressman can hand out a welfare check to the group and say vote for me.
The Economist is a loser magazine. 30 years ago I was happy the library subscribed. Alas, it is no longer the erudite publication of old.
that link above explains in a precise manner what is going on and so you need to dismiss the silly non-factual stuff others are posting on that issue
9:20
I read the first two paragraphs of the article until I hit the paywall. The statements were so generic to as not be worth of a power point presentation. Opening statements in a paragraph need support. There need to be details.
I found my details in the trucking mags. A group showing total number of truckers of the difference between trucker opening and actual number of truckers provide a lot of information. All I read in The Economist was generic pablum.
The subsequent 7 paragraphs almost provide details to support sweeping generalizations, but fall far short after a feeble attempt.
PABLUM
that link above explains in a precise manner
"but in the pursuit of an array of goals, from imposing labour and environmental standards abroad to punishing geopolitical opponents."
Ultra precise dat!
"but in the pursuit of an array of goals, from imposing labour and environmental standards abroad to punishing geopolitical opponents."
From A to Z
But then author never actually lists B, C, D, E ..., W, X, Z
How many items are the in between FROM & TO? We do not know. We are left in the dark by the precise explanation.
"imposing labour and environmental standards abroad"
There has ben talk of that for over a decade. So it is only beginning to bite now? It seems to me a handwaving argument until they show a treaty or law that actually prevented something to shipped from a country that had bad labour or environmental practices.
OK maybe not handwaving. Maybe it is just an out right lie.
Here is the article, in full, for you to like or dislike. Hit on the blue link and not the black title. As for the Economist in the past and today: the real issue is not what they were and how you feel about them now but rather whether a particular article is useful, makes sense. Or not.
The world economy’s shortage problem
I already found the full article elsewhere.
"The subsequent 7 paragraphs almost provide details to support sweeping generalizations"
And I wrote:
"that link above explains in a precise manner"
"but in the pursuit of an array of goals, from imposing labour and environmental standards abroad to punishing geopolitical opponents."
Ultra precise dat!
It took 10 months to get a GE cooktop, getting it today, maybe
anon:
anyone can lift a partial sentence that is not a full sentence and then state it is not precise
If you "found the article elsewhere" then it had to be from the same magazine, since it is behind a paywall
"If you "found the article elsewhere" then it had to be from the same magazine, since it is behind a paywall"
People have subscription and then steal the content and post it to another website. So it does not have to be from the same website.
You should immediately do an emergency reality check recalibration, because you are majorly stoooooopid.
I found out the purloined article at 3 other sites as well.
1:21 are you a thief or do you just get off on being outraged?
I checked and you are right--me wrong--it did appear where you said it was. I will still maintain that the article says more about the subject at hand than the guesses posted as comments here.
If the article was made into a power point presentation anyone in a supervisory position would be asking so many questions that the presentation would be considered a disaster.
All By Design!!
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