2021 shortages

[JeepHammer]

If you weren't watching the evening news, Congress just failed to vote to raise the debt ceiling, which means at least partial defaults and downgrading of US debt again.

Weaker dollar means even higher prices,
Downgraded credit rating means higher interest rates (again) and even more national debt.

Same people that did it the last time, and the time before that, and... Well... You get the idea.

 

[BehindBlueI's]

Just read an article about potential energy shortages in UK / Europe
NG. Oil, etc.
The article stated if it's a bad winter people are in big trouble.
Wonder when it hits our shores?

The difference is we are a net exporter, not a net importer, of oil and gas. We meddle in the Mid East not because the oil comes here, but because the oil feeds our allies and to deny it to our enemies.

 

[Keith_Indy]

The global economy just makes us more vulnerable to fragile systems in foreign countries...

MSN

www.msn.com

 

[Leadeye]

The gardener has not been able to find evaporated milk locally for some time, holiday treats may suffer this year, or I'll have to start hunting for it.

 

[Keith_Indy]

Shameful, national crisis and they can’t work on Sunday…

Zerohedge

ZeroHedge - On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero

www.zerohedge.com

 

[Keith_Indy]

nothing to see here, move along. this is not the inflation you were looking for...

Bacon prices have skyrocketed to record levels, and they might not go down anytime soon | CNN Business

Bacon is more expensive for Americans than it has been in the past 40 years.

www.cnn.com

 

[Ark]

Shameful, national crisis and they can’t work on Sunday…

Zerohedge

ZeroHedge - On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero

www.zerohedge.com

Nobody takes responsibility, everyone blames each other, nobody steps up to fix it, everything gets worse.

Sounds like a blue state, alright.

 

[DoggyDaddy]

Nobody takes responsibility, everyone blames each other, nobody steps up to fix it, everything gets worse.

Sounds like a blue state, alright.

From the article:
"The International Longshore and Warehouse Union says their members will work a third shift, but only after the pileup of containers is fetched out of the port so there is space."

That's some pretty ****ed up logic right there. The reason a third shift is needed is to... wait for it... get the pileup of containers out of the port. In other words, we'll gladly come to work once there is no work for us to do.

 

[rooster]

At least one German power plant is shut down because they ran out of coal. The Uk is out of gas and diesel. China has a billion people without power now( 1/7th of humanity)

when does this ripple in the pond reach us?

 

[Keith_Indy]

At least one German power plant is shut down because they ran out of coal. The Uk is out of gas and diesel. China has a billion people without power now( 1/7th of humanity)

when does this ripple in the pond reach us?

well we export a lot of stuff we could use here... thinking food and fuel.

Easier to start a mothballed coal plant than build enough of anything else in a pinch. Not that I think most of the bunch of clowns who run stuff would be allowed to.

 

[printcraft]

Magnet material for signs and cards is getting extremely hard to get ahold of. Month delays minimum to get it. Some suppliers have just given up.

 

[woowoo2]

Magnet material for signs and cards is getting extremely hard to get ahold of. Month delays minimum to get it. Some suppliers have just given up.

No more refrigerator magnets?

What are we now, savages?

 

[printcraft]

No more refrigerator magnets?

What are we now, savages?

IKR?!

 

[manifest destiny]

Magnet material for signs and cards is getting extremely hard to get ahold of. Month delays minimum to get it. Some suppliers have just given up.

This oddity just adds to my theory: Shortages of all things all at once isn't organic. Announced today that BMV's were closing due to staff shortages. This on top of previous BMV closures due to staff shortage. Where is everybody? It's almost as if the hatch is being battened down by the masses. Just weird. Something is clearly afoot.

 

[Keith_Indy]

This oddity just adds to my theory: Shortages of all things all at once isn't organic. Announced today that BMV's were closing due to staff shortages. This on top of previous BMV closures due to staff shortage. Where is everybody? It's almost as if the hatch is being battened down by the masses. Just weird. Something is clearly afoot.

If I were paid to not doing anything, you'd be hard pressed to pay me to do something...

but my job isn't that critical to society.

 

[BehindBlueI's]

This oddity just adds to my theory: Shortages of all things all at once isn't organic. Announced today that BMV's were closing due to staff shortages. This on top of previous BMV closures due to staff shortage. Where is everybody? It's almost as if the hatch is being battened down by the masses. Just weird. Something is clearly afoot.

When shipments from China are greatly delayed, all things we buy from China are greatly delayed. Guess where over half of the world's magnets are manufactured?

What's afoot at the BMV is the labor market. Go look at the job listings. How many people 21 and up are looking for work and can't do better than part-time or "intermittent" for $13/hr and no benefits? Of course they can't find people. They aren't competitive with the local carwashes, let alone full time employers, and it's a lousy job on top of that.

 

[manifest destiny]

I completely concur with the shutdown, slow ramp up and the associated ripples. One base material shortage and everything downstream from it will be affected. But it's been a year and a half. What shortage has been worked out? Local signs begging for forklift operators for $20-23/hr. Unemployment earns pays more than $48k/yr ?? It isn't any one thing, or one place, or one genre of shortage that perplexes me. It's the all things, all at once aspect that feels inorganic.

Edit: I threw in the BMV because the state has closed dozens of locations. That's a lot of people that didn't return to work. Where did they go? If they all took the forklift jobs, why are the forklift help wanted signs (non-magnetic) still up? Where did the original forklift people go? All rhetorical questions.

 

[Elcardo]

Chicken wings were getting a little sparse at the local grocery ....I've found a steady supplier of them but I was starting to panic!!!....gotta have my wings !!!

 

[BehindBlueI's]

Edit: I threw in the BMV because the state has closed dozens of locations. That's a lot of people that didn't return to work. Where did they go? If they all took the forklift jobs, why are the forklift help wanted signs (non-magnetic) still up? Where did the original forklift people go? All rhetorical questions.

Why rhetorical? The answers exist.

What if there's more forklift jobs today than there were yesterday?

Per the Labor Department:
August 2021: Transportation and warehousing added 53,000 jobs

"So far this year, monthly job growth has averaged 586,000. In August,
notable job gains occurred in professional and business services, transportation and
warehousing, private education, manufacturing, and other services. Employment in retail
trade declined over the month."

We're at similar unemployment numbers as we were this time 6 years ago, and less than we were 7 and 8 years ago so we're not still in a historically high unemployment situation. Labor Participation Rate is about 1-2% lower than it was in the same time periods, but some of that is due to an aging population meaning more people are retired. It also counts everyone over 16, and the teenager demographic is one of the highest unemployed and not seeking employment groups as they are in school, working under the table, etc. There's also still a fairly high number of people on temporary layoff with a call back date, which I *think* is mostly likely due to manufacturing idling waiting for components.

So we've got fewer people in the labor pool because the Labor Participation Rate is down. That can mean people retired, became disabled, left the country, died, etc. They aren't working and aren't looking to, and while it's a small percentage across the broader market it adds up. Then jobs have largely recovered in many sectors. Pay has improved in some sectors and not others, and if the barrier to entry is low a lot of folks will make that transition. It's not like "learn to code" where the people out of work are untrained or unsuited for the new jobs without extensive (and expensive) education.

I'm going to guess when the numbers are out, retirements are up as well. The status quo was challenged and that got a lot of folks thinking about priorities and if they wanted to keep working or not, some who could financially swing it did it earlier then they otherwise would have. A smoking hot market and all time high real estate prices helps make that easier, as well.

 

[Route 45]

Unemployment earns pays more than $48k/yr ??

Federal Unemployment Benefits Have Now Ended In Indiana

Federal unemployment benefit programs, designed to help workers financially survive the pandemic, are now over. While states can use CARES Act money to extend them, Indiana -- like most states -- has no plans to do so.

www.wfyi.org