So many articles are describing the deterioration in the supply chain. Lots of comments on twitter show pictures of grocery stores in the United States with a fraction of the stock you would normally see.
Government policies, such as forced lockdowns, work restrictions, flooding the economy with trillions of dollars, and travel restrictions are increasing pressure.
Just a few of recent articles describing increasing troubles:
Railroad robberies are again a thing in Los Angeles. Those items that got lost in transit are probably off the side of a railroad in LA.
China’s zero-Covid policy is closing factories and locking down cities.
China restricting its border with Vietnam is leaving lots of fruit to rot in trucks waiting to get into the country.
SoCal ports struggling even more with so many dockworkers out sick.
Currently truck drivers in Canada must be vaccinated and starting 1/22 drivers entering the US must be vaccinated, putting further strains on the supply chain.
There are a lot of indications the inflation rates we’ve seen in the last year or so are going to continue. My guess is we will see higher inflation in the next year than we did in 2021. Author of the article discussing PPP says he expects a shock in the CPI sometime in the next few months.
Merely a few recent items pointing towards sustained and even increasing inflation:
Dollar Tree is now $1.25 Tree.
Experienced farmer describes how severely inflation is hitting his operations. Those increases are going to appear on the store shelves soon.
Producer Price Index is accelerating. Indications that unprocessed and intermediate goods are going up far faster than what we’re seeing at retail, so expect accelerating inflation.
Unusually high lumber prices are back.
Decent prices on cars will be harder and harder to find.
Dollar Tree is now Dollar and a Quarter Tree – Bought a couple items at Dollar Tree. They all rang up at $1.25. Glanced around the store noticing all the signs said $1.25.I asked the clerk about it and he said everything in the store is now a dollar and a quarter.
The Personal Consumption Expenditure (PCE) inflation index increased 0.6% in November. This after the 0.6% in October 2021 increase was revised upward from 0.6% to 0.7%.
The core PCE inflation rate (without food and energy) was 0.5% in November and 0.4% in October.
This indicates inflation is continuing. When you look at all of 2021 perhaps inflation is accelerating.
Illustration of supply chain. Image courtesy of Adobe Stock.
There are lots of reports out with tidbits of information which combine to paint a picture that the tangled supply chain is not going to untangle anytime soon. For your consideration:
New system to allow cargo ships to register a scheduled arrival time will make it look like the number of ships waiting to unload has decreased.
Big increase in the number of people who started their own business since start of the pandemic, becoming self-employed.
Your favorite restaurant may stop taking delivery orders during crunch time.
Pay and working conditions for truckers are horrible – no wonder there aren’t enough of them.
This sign is becoming more common during business hours. Image courtesy of Adobe Stock.
My wife and I are seeing firsthand the impact of turmoil in the employment market to include restaurants that have to close for the day because no staff showed up to work. One restaurant is making up stories about masks being government-required.
This discussion will highlight disruptions I have seen in our local community in the last month. We will discuss separately the wide range of government actions which have caused this turmoil.
The amount of money Congress has pumped into the economy in an attempt to fight the Covid pandemic is staggering. Don’t quite have enough adjectives to describe the amount of money that is forced into the economy without any corresponding increase in production.
The amount spent directly on the pandemic is more than four times the annual budget at the federal level.
This is one of the primary reasons we are seeing inflation rates running at a thirty year high.
I’ve pulled together the amount of money appropriated by Congress in 2020 and 2021 which are focused on fighting the pandemic and stimulating the economy. Here is my tally, with amount of funding in billions of dollars, date Congress passed the legislation, and name of the program:
Typical private jet during four hours in the air will emit about as much CO2 as an average person will generate during an entire year. Image courtesy of Adobe Stock.
The demand for private jets is soaring. Those jets generate massively more CO2 emissions that any commercial flight.
The ruling caste, who think they rule over us, have no hesitation to use heavily polluting private jets to scoot around on their planet hopping fun times.
The double whammy of Covid pandemic and government policies in reaction to the pandemic continue to hammer the educational sector. Unsettling thing is to consider these articles only discuss the current impact and not the long-term destruction of education for all students from pre-K to grad school.
Articles for you to consider:
Columbia University settles for a refund of fees their class-action lawsuit claiming refund of fees and tuition.
Freshman enrollment in colleges and universities continued to decline in fall 2021. The anticipated return of students who skipped matriculation in fall 2020 has not happened.
As an indicator of what is likely happening in all primary and secondary schools across the country, Washington state public schools estimate enrollment for the next two years will be down another 4.5% from their February 2021 estimate.
TaxProf – 11/27/21 – Columbia Settles Covid-19 Class Action Tuition Refund Suit For $12.5 Million – Looks like Columbia University got off easy. Students there established a class and were suing for refund of tuition and fees because they were prohibited from in-person classes and instead attended an Ivy League school on their monitor.
