Posted on 12/03/2021 6:50:29 AM PST by Red Badger
President Biden is touting his administration's handling of the supply chain crisis, claiming the situation is all but resolved. However, the bottleneck that helped bring the supply chain to a virtual standstill remains in place.
On Wednesday, Biden said the supply chain is in "very strong shape" ahead of the holiday season.
"It's not because of luck," Biden said. "We averted potential crisis by figuring out what needed to get fixed, and then we brought the people together to do the hard work of fixing it."
Biden dismissed reports of empty store shelves nationwide, saying, "For the vast majority of the country that's not what's happening."
The president then credited his team with what he described as significant progress in restoring the flow of the supply chain.
"Because of the actions the administration has taken in partnership with business and labor, retailers and grocery stores, freight movers and railroads, those shelves are going to be stocked," he said.
The country has faced supply shortages across virtually all industries this year as global economies recover from COVID-19 and struggle to meet increased consumer demand. For months, cargo ships coming into the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, which handle some 40% of the country's containerized imports, have been forced to loiter off the coast of California, unable to unload the products on board, creating a logjam. Less supply has helped drive up prices.
Biden said Wednesday that, thanks to his administration's efforts to keep the ports open 24/7, the number of container ships waiting to unload has decreased by 40%.
Gene Seroka, executive director of the Port of Los Angeles, used that same figure on Tuesday.
"The number of ships at anchor has decreased by more than 40% over a four-week period," Seroka said during a press conference.
Biden and Seroka are correct that the number of ships at anchor or loitering has decreased — but only for those vessels within 40 miles of the ports.
Overall, the logjam of cargo ships remains as severe as ever. The reason why is simple: Since last month, a new queuing system has encouraged and led many ships to move outside of the ports' 40-mile zone to a Safety and Air Quality Area (SAQA) that extends 150 miles to the west of the ports and 50 miles to the north and south.
As a result, some observers have argued the supply chain crisis is easing, backing Biden's version of events.
"In mid-November, 86 container ships were floating around San Pedro Bay waiting for a berth," explained Steve Rattner, who served as auto-industry czar in the Obama administration. "Today, just two weeks later, that figure is down to 44."
The sharply reduced count of 44 ships anchored offshore includes only those ships waiting within the 40-mile zone as of midday Tuesday, according to data from the Marine Exchange of Southern California. American Shipper estimated that there were another 50 container ships waiting outside the SAQA, making for a total of 94 ships.
"Problem solved?" wrote FreightWaves' Greg Miller just before Thanksgiving. "Far from it. The waiting container ships are still out there — more of them than ever. It's just that more are over the horizon, where you can't see them, thanks to the successful implementation of a new queuing system that began last week."
The all-time high number of ships waiting for berths at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach is 96, which occurred on Monday.
Outside of the SAQA, there are dozens of additional ships with calculated times of arrival to enter the ports, according to MarineTraffic, which provides real-time information on the movements of ships.
FreightWaves, which provides news and data to the global freight industry, tracked some of these ships and found at least 11 are waiting off places as distant as Mexico, Japan, and Taiwan. They don't count as vessels waiting to enter the two California ports because they're not in the 40-mile zone.
One ship flagged by FreightWaves left Yantian, China, for Long Beach on Nov. 7. It was assigned a time of arrival of Nov. 25 and is now loitering offshore of Hokkaido, Japan, long after it was supposed to unload supplies in the U.S.
The new queuing system was ostensibly devised to lower harmful emissions and improve safety by dispersing ships more widely. It has alleviated congestion at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach as intended in, but this achievement has no bearing on the supply chain crisis — except insofar as it removes from view the most striking and accessible material evidence of the distribution bottleneck.
"A more cynical view has emerged," wrote Miller, namely "that an unstated goal is to erase a politically nettlesome photo op — attention-grabbing imagery of idle container ships stretching off into the distance."
Of course, the health of the supply chain isn't completely determined by the Long Beach and Los Angeles ports. Indeed, retail inventories in stores are up, and Walmart CEO Doug McMillon said during a White House meeting this week that throughput has increased with the help of the federal government.
But there's no clear indication that the California logjam will ease anytime soon, and reports indicate families are feeling the effects of disruptions to the supply chain — even when it comes to chicken tenders.
"The shelves have been empty recently, restaurants have been out of chicken tenders, and that makes it very difficult when you have kids that have limited options," one Arizona mom told NBC.
During his speech, Biden pointed to a survey by Etsy, an e-commerce company, showing many of its dealers are less concerned about the supply chain than they were last year. However, many Etsy sellers are reportedly struggling to find an array of supplies that they need.
Supply chain experts warn we could see significant shortages well into next year, which doesn't bode well for the economy more broadly. A new report from the Federal Reserve notes that supply chain disruptions constrain economic growth.
However, Biden didn't indicate concern on Wednesday."By working with business and labor, my administration's been able to handle the huge surge in goods moving through some of our biggest ports," he said. "And that's translated into shelves across our country being well stocked."
ALL PRAISE BIG BIDEN!.....................
And biden did inflation for all Americans
?
There’s a video kon twitchy of LL Cool Jay introducing Biden and DOCTOR Jill to the tree lighting ceremony
He gives the introduction and the crowd waits...and waits...and waits...
After 2 whole minutes, he introduces Biden again and he finally shuffles up the few stairs to the stage
Comrades! The last Five-Year Plan was so successful we are repeating it again for the next five years! To celebrate this great victory, everyone’s food rations are cut by 30% for the next five years.
Biden will lie 24/7.......
Go ahead........ try and refute him......he’s got his very own Gestapo.
I deal with manufacturers. Things are at a stand still. Product deliveries almost impossible to predict. Items I was getting in 3 weeks are 20 weeks out. Small components like a diode we were paying 40 cents for are now $ 3.00 IF you can even find them. Production lines across American are shutting down. No raw materials and many smaller manufacturers who produced sub assemblies are out of business (I heard over 10,000 of them shut down). Hold on this is the beginning of the end.
They are playing hide & seek with the containers they do remove from the port...
They are placing them on residential streets—in empty state owned land & fed owned land all around LA.
Ships are being held out in the ocean-—away from prying eyes & photographers.
This is a GIANT SHELL GAME-—
Not mentioned, but I suspect many ships have returned to port, or sailed to alternative (ie, non-US) ports.
And, then, there is Executive Order 13848—Imposing Certain Sanctions in the Event of Foreign Interference in a United States Election:
"Sec. 2. (a) All property and interests in property that are in the United States, that hereafter come within the United States, or that are or hereafter come within the possession or control of any United States person of the following persons are blocked and may not be transferred, paid, exported, withdrawn, or otherwise dealt in: any foreign person determined by the Secretary of the Treasury, in consultation with the Secretary of State, the Attorney General, and the Secretary of Homeland Security: ..."
We just received a modular power supply from Vicor that we ordered 6 months ago...............
Either that, or the end of the beginning.
See #10.
I suspected that.
They can also hide them on train cars on unused rail sideings...............I have read that some have been broken into......................
The shelves are NOT well stocked.
I shop often enough & I am careful with what I buy on Soc Sec income.
I go up & down many aisles seeking what I NEED, and not making impulse purchases.
I am affected at two levels, at home and in my part time job.
At home, I bought a special recliner on September 11. It was back ordered with a factory production date of November 22. The production is now set for December 18 meaning that it will be mid January before it is actually received at the furniture store. A complex set of reasons for the delay is cited.
In my job, I am involved with a manufacturer who in turn uses a myriad of components to fabricate the product. Any one delays the whole and out of control unreliability makes scheduling damn near impossible. It has been this way for months and we live with it.
We are a manufacturer of electronics ‘stuff’.
Some things are backordered for months.
Delivery schedules are a freaking mess!....................
Media-supported lies and indoctrination can work for a lot of things, but not for things that directly impact people in ways they can see every single day with their own eyes. People know prices are increasing, and know that it hurts them. They can see empty shelves and products on back-order. The Biden Administration is basically saying "who are you going to believe -- us or your lying eyes", and people are making the obvious choice.
This is great for us, because it exposes them all as willing liars/manipulators, but it just boggles the mind to think that there are professional political advisors giving this advice and expecting it to work. The lies are simply dumb.
Try this scenario:
I have been doing accounting since 1957 when I went to work at Kroger Divisional offices at age 17-—just out of High School.
I went out on my own doing accounting for small businesses in 1980. I am now 82 & I still have ONE client-—this is the 52nd year I have done his books.
I know that a company of any size follows these accounting stages:
A purchase order is agreed to in writing, between manufacturer or wholesaler & retailer, including items numbers, quantity, terms of payment, and agreed delivery to purchaser in salable shape...not damaged or rotten if perishable.
In the normal flow of things, those shipments arrive, are opened up, checked for items, quantity and condition against the packing slip enclosed in the retailers warehouses.
The items go into inventory if no problems.
The packing slip is forwarded to Accounts Payable to match the purchase order, packing slip, and INVOICE & authorize payment according to the payment terms.
IF there is a discount for quicker payment, that is noted & set up for payment accordingly.
NOW:
Items are ordered & from there on, it is a CRAP SHOOT.
Customers do NOT have their goods-—they do not have a packing slip to collect together with all other necessary papers to PAY the invoice.
The manufacturer or wholesaler is NOT getting paid-—
They are stuck -—items they shipped they cannot get paid for.
The customer doesn’t have inventory to sell-———yet they ordered such in good faith and cannot seek out many other sources for replacing tardy orders.
IF it somehow ALL comes in, then they have an over abundance of inventory & a flat bank account.
The Customer doesn’t have funds from those sales to PAY the bill for the goods.
Any agreed to discounts for prompt payment are lost because the goods are SOMEWHERE on a ship & cannot be received & sold.
This is a total Accounting NIGHTMARE......
I have worked in Accounts Payable departments that handled many thousands of pieces of paper & had to pay bills on time to keep getting the best terms. I am not talking about Mom-Pop stores-—I am talking about major companies like Kroger/IGA/Universal Studios, etc.
It will take MONTHS after the ‘supply chain’ is running smoothly again to see daylight on all the problems.
Meanwhile, Biden & Butt Boy cannot operate a flea market on a small island.
“Please, Sir,
I want some more”.
/s
Try it I am living it. Not only is the accounting part of this a nightmare but If I aint shipping I aint selling. I have to guess at what I need that I won't get delivered. I have the orders but not the stock.
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