The global supply chain is a lot of the problem. There’s an equation that predicts a shortage. If an item requires three suppliers to produce and each supplier has a probability of not producing your item, then you can multiply them all together to come up with the probability that you will not be able to buy the finished good. The more suppliers the lower the probability you can buy the good. When the suppliers are in different countries and they are all experiencing supply, labor and cost difficulties, the probability of finding your items goes even lower. The end result of Covid is that companies that want to survive must bring in their supply chains to a manageable, and predictable base.
I recall reading about how a t-shirt got to market. The cotton was picked in Egypt, put on a 747 and sent to India where it was woven into raw cloth. That was sent to Vietnam where it was cut into a t-shirt and then some tiny island where the t-shirt had some process done. It was then sent to Italy where it was screen printed with some designer logos and design and then shipped to New York for distribution to Walmarts around America. By the time it was bought, it had probably spent more hours in the air than most frequent travelers would spend in a year. It was insane. And, it sold for about $15.
All of this was made possible because the United States maintained a security umbrella that kept all the trade routes open and the US facilitated trade with globalization agreements. Most of this was at the expense of the American workforce. The US used to be the world’s best source of underwear, t-shirts, socks, etc. All of that got exported to foreign suppliers because America’s political masters decided America was better at high end design and everyone else was better at grunt labor. Oh, and it’s great to have unemployed Americans on subsistence so they vote Democrat.
As for building materials, that’s because the US slapped a tariff on Canadian lumber. The Canadians wanted to negotiate to lower the tariff but they report no one in the Biden administration will even take their calls. The tariff has added somewhere north of $30k to the average price of a house.
The appliance shortage is because so many of them have parts, a motor or a bushing, say, sourced in areas that have been effected by Covid. Look for those to either come back to America or be produced in Mexico. America if Trump is president. Mexico if Biden is president.
All I know is that I’ve been waiting a year and a half to buy another bike, and the bike shops still don’t know when inventory will reappear. They are scraping the bottom of the barrel when it comes to bikes that are actually available.
“Does Biden really expect Israel to “de-escalate” while Hamas rockets continue to bombard its farms, suburbs, and cities? Or is his statement for show — an attempt to appease the increasingly strong anti-Israel faction of the Democratic Party?”
♫♫ Look for the Union Label ♫♫
(try again)
“The US used to be the world’s best source of underwear, t-shirts, socks, etc. All of that got exported to foreign suppliers because America’s political masters decided America was better at high end design and everyone else was better at grunt labor.”
♫♫ Look for the Union Label ♫♫