Poor Man Survival
Self Reliance tools for
independent minded people…
www.poormansurvivor.net
ISSN
2161-5543
A Digest of Urban
Survival Resources
If Everything Is Going To Be Just Fine, Why Do The Shortages
Just Keep Getting Worse?
They keep telling us that economic conditions are improving, but
if that is true why are the shortages worse than ever? For a moment, I
would like to take you all the way back to 2019. Before the pandemic came
along, we didn’t have any shortages. If you wanted something, you just
went to the store and got it or you ordered it online. Prices were low,
global supply chains were functioning smoothly, and to most people it seemed
like it would stay that way for the foreseeable future.
But then the pandemic hit, and “panic buying” caused short-term
shortages of certain items such as toilet paper and hand sanitizer. It
was understandable that people would want to hoard those things, because there
was a lot of fear in the air. But we also knew that those shortages were
only going to be temporary.
Now here we are in 2021, and we were told that things would be
getting back to normal by now.
But instead, there are severe shortages everywhere around us.
In fact, the shortages are far worse than anything that we experienced
in 2020.
For example, did you know that dozens of important drugs are in
short supply? According to the official FDA website, there are shortages
of more than 100 drugs in the United States right now…
If you found yourself in a situation like this, you can check
the FDA’s
drug shortage tracking system.
Right now there are currently about 120 drugs listed as having a
shortage.
On the website, if you type in a drug name in the database search
field you can see if and why it’s in short supply. You can also see whether it
is scheduled to be discontinued, and when the supply may start flowing again.
This wasn’t supposed to happen.
Shortages just continue to get worse for the
home building industry as well…
“Builders are delaying starting new construction because of the
marked increase in costs for lumber and other inputs,” said Mike Fratantoni,
senior vice president and chief economist with the Mortgage Bankers
Association, in a report Tuesday.
He added that supply shortages for appliances are also putting a
damper on new home building activity.
Just over our northern border, the shortages have gotten really
severe. In some cases, the construction of homes “is
months behind schedule” because the shortages have gotten so bad…
Home builders across Canada are getting hit by a string of
supply-chain disruptions, resulting in widespread product shortages and
explosive costs for the industry.
In some cases, home construction is months behind schedule as
developers struggle to source everything from lumber to PVC pipes, insulation
to windows. Builders are also holding back on presales, unable to accurately
price their homes too far in advance, given that material costs can fluctuate
wildly on a daily basis.
When asked about these shortages, one home building executive said
that “it’s
getting worse and worse every day”…
“The whole supply chain is out of whack,” said Matt McCurrach,
president of Homex Development Corp. in Kamloops, B.C.
“It’s getting worse and worse every day,” added Sue Wastell,
president of Wastell Homes in London, Ont. “Literally every day, we’re finding
out something else is not arriving when it was scheduled to. … We’ve never seen
anything like this.”
Of even greater concern is the global shortage of computer
chips. This is something that I discussed extensively in my recent
article entitled “A Severe
Computer Chip Shortage Will Last ‘A Few Years’, And This Could Plunge The
Global Economy Into Utter Chaos”. Just about every industry that you can name is extremely
dependent on equipment that uses computer chips, and CNN is telling us that
this shortage “is going
from bad to worse”…
The shortage is going from bad to worse, spreading from cars to
consumer electronics. With the bulk of chip production concentrated in a
handful of suppliers, analysts warn that the crunch is likely to last through
2021.
According to Goldman Sachs, 169 US industries embed semiconductors
in their products. The bank is forecasting a 20% average shortfall of computer
chips among affected industries, with some of the components used to make chips
in short supply until at least this fall and possibly into 2022.
Actually, as I pointed out the other
day, many
executives now expect the computer chip shortage to extend into 2023.
For automakers, this is rapidly becoming a complete and total
nightmare. During the first quarter, global auto production was down by
about 10 percent due to the chip shortage, but Ford has announced that
production in the second quarter will be down by about
50 percent…
Investors have heard plenty about the current state of capacity
problems for months. Roughly 2 million cars—or about 10% of quarterly global
automotive production—weren’t built in the first quarter because of no chips.
Ford Motor (ticker: F), one of the auto makers feeling the shortage most
acutely, said in late April that it expects to lose about 50% of planned second-quarter
production.
A 50 percent decline in production?
That is nuts!
If automakers can’t make vehicles, then they will have to start
laying off workers.
Unfortunately, that is precisely what just happened at one
factory in
northern Illinois…
Some 1,600 jobs are being cut at a Jeep Cherokee factory in
northern Illinois as automakers continue being plagued by the global shortage
of semiconductors.
The U.S. arm of Stellantis, formerly known as Fiat Chrysler, said
Friday it was cutting one of the two work shifts at its Belvidere Assembly
Plant as of July 26. That could result in the layoffs of 1,641 workers, company
spokeswoman Jodi Tinson said.
The economic optimists keep telling us that better days are right
around the corner, but those better days never seem to materialize.
Instead, employment is still way below pre-pandemic levels, global
supply chains are in a state of complete and utter chaos, and we are facing
severe shortages of just
about everything…
Copper, iron ore and steel. Corn, coffee, wheat and soybeans.
Lumber, semiconductors, plastic and cardboard for packaging. The world is
seemingly low on all of it. “You name it, and we have a shortage on it,” Tom
Linebarger, chairman and chief executive of engine and generator manufacturer
Cummins Inc., said on a call this month. Clients are “trying to get everything
they can because they see high demand,” Jennifer Rumsey, the Columbus,
Indiana-based company’s president, said. “They think it’s going to extend into
next year.”
The difference between the big crunch of 2021 and past supply
disruptions is the sheer magnitude of it, and the fact that there is — as far
as anyone can tell — no clear end in sight. Big or small, few businesses are
spared. Europe’s largest fleet of trucks, Girteka Logistics, says there’s been
a struggle to find enough capacity. Monster Beverage Corp. of Corona,
California, is dealing with an aluminum can scarcity. Hong Kong’s MOMAX
Technology Ltd. is delaying production of a new product because of a dearth of
semiconductors.
If this is the “recovery”, what will things look like when the next severe
economic downturn hits us?
In my entire lifetime, I have never seen such widespread
shortages.
Those that are running things keep insisting that they have
everything totally under control and that things will eventually get back to
normal.
You can believe them if you want, but millions of others are
preparing for a future in which their optimistic assessments of the future turn
out to be very, very wrong.
***Michael’s new book entitled “Lost Prophecies Of The Future Of
America” is now available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.***
RELATED STORIES
When demand is greater than supply: 10 items that are in
shortage right now
And the shortage might not end any time soon
Have you noticed higher
prices at the grocery store or other stores? A report earlier this month from the
Labor Department showed sharply higher prices for everything from food and
clothes to housing. A 10% surge in the prices of used cars and trucks — a
record jump — accounted for roughly one-third of last month’s overall
increases.
The cost of new cars was
up 0.5%, the largest increase since last July. Prices for vehicles, both used
and new, have been
soaring as
a result of heavy demand and a computer chip shortage that has slowed auto
production and reduced dealer supplies.
Shortages of goods and
parts related to disrupted supply chains have been a key factor.
Gas Prices Hit Six-Year High
New Studies: TV Makes You Stupid
Warnings Of A Dramatic Inflationary Collapse Just Keep Getting Louder
John Williams of shadowstats.com insists that we are “eventually
headed into a hyperinflationary economic collapse”…
SIDEBAR:
Since man first started chipping away at rocks to make
rudimentary tools, we have had knives of some form. From these early
beginnings, thousands upon thousands of knife designs have been created. Every
people on this planet have made a knife that reflects their culture and
lifestyle in some way.
Our modern age is no different.
Today we have countless blades to choose from for a wide variety of general or complex
tasks. But which one is right for you?
To help you find the
"perfect" knife for your needs, we have put together this quick
guide. Here we will cover the basics of knife design and help you understand
what you should be looking for. We will also include links to good knives that
are available for purchase...
How to Choose the
Right Knife: A Guide for Preppers
You may also like...
6 Best Budget-Friendly Knives For Preppers
Survival Knives Book , By James Morgan Ayres, former U.S. Special
Forces. Condition is "Brand New"
https://www.bonanza.com/listings/Survival-Knives-Book-By-James-Ayres-former-U
Useful stuff
Liberty
Band Emergency Solar Radio
Staying informed could be a matter
of life and death.
That’s why federal and state
agencies advise that every American home should have an emergency radio.
Don't
get caught off guard during a lengthy quarantine or natural disasters.
Preparation is, as usual, the absolute key...
https://www.bonanza.com/listings/Liberty-Band-Emergency-Solar-Radio/975136935
Useful
Resources from our storefront-See new items!
You Can’t
Buy Life Insurance After You’re Dead-Prepare NOW for Emergencies…
A
portion of our proceeds is donated to charitable Veterans groups such as
Wounded Warriors & the VFW!
Support our efforts by shopping my
storefront…
http://RetroGuy.net
Poor Man Survival
Self Reliance tools for
independent minded people…
www.poormansurvivor.net
ISSN
2161-5543
A Digest of Urban
Survival Resources
If Everything Is Going To Be Just Fine, Why Do The Shortages
Just Keep Getting Worse?
They keep telling us that economic conditions are improving, but
if that is true why are the shortages worse than ever? For a moment, I
would like to take you all the way back to 2019. Before the pandemic came
along, we didn’t have any shortages. If you wanted something, you just
went to the store and got it or you ordered it online. Prices were low,
global supply chains were functioning smoothly, and to most people it seemed
like it would stay that way for the foreseeable future.
But then the pandemic hit, and “panic buying” caused short-term
shortages of certain items such as toilet paper and hand sanitizer. It
was understandable that people would want to hoard those things, because there
was a lot of fear in the air. But we also knew that those shortages were
only going to be temporary.
Now here we are in 2021, and we were told that things would be
getting back to normal by now.
But instead, there are severe shortages everywhere around us.
In fact, the shortages are far worse than anything that we experienced
in 2020.
For example, did you know that dozens of important drugs are in
short supply? According to the official FDA website, there are shortages
of more than 100 drugs in the United States right now…
If you found yourself in a situation like this, you can check
the FDA’s
drug shortage tracking system.
Right now there are currently about 120 drugs listed as having a
shortage.
On the website, if you type in a drug name in the database search
field you can see if and why it’s in short supply. You can also see whether it
is scheduled to be discontinued, and when the supply may start flowing again.
This wasn’t supposed to happen.
Shortages just continue to get worse for the
home building industry as well…
“Builders are delaying starting new construction because of the
marked increase in costs for lumber and other inputs,” said Mike Fratantoni,
senior vice president and chief economist with the Mortgage Bankers
Association, in a report Tuesday.
He added that supply shortages for appliances are also putting a
damper on new home building activity.
Just over our northern border, the shortages have gotten really
severe. In some cases, the construction of homes “is
months behind schedule” because the shortages have gotten so bad…
Home builders across Canada are getting hit by a string of
supply-chain disruptions, resulting in widespread product shortages and
explosive costs for the industry.
In some cases, home construction is months behind schedule as
developers struggle to source everything from lumber to PVC pipes, insulation
to windows. Builders are also holding back on presales, unable to accurately
price their homes too far in advance, given that material costs can fluctuate
wildly on a daily basis.
When asked about these shortages, one home building executive said
that “it’s
getting worse and worse every day”…
“The whole supply chain is out of whack,” said Matt McCurrach,
president of Homex Development Corp. in Kamloops, B.C.
“It’s getting worse and worse every day,” added Sue Wastell,
president of Wastell Homes in London, Ont. “Literally every day, we’re finding
out something else is not arriving when it was scheduled to. … We’ve never seen
anything like this.”
Of even greater concern is the global shortage of computer
chips. This is something that I discussed extensively in my recent
article entitled “A Severe
Computer Chip Shortage Will Last ‘A Few Years’, And This Could Plunge The
Global Economy Into Utter Chaos”. Just about every industry that you can name is extremely
dependent on equipment that uses computer chips, and CNN is telling us that
this shortage “is going
from bad to worse”…
The shortage is going from bad to worse, spreading from cars to
consumer electronics. With the bulk of chip production concentrated in a
handful of suppliers, analysts warn that the crunch is likely to last through
2021.
According to Goldman Sachs, 169 US industries embed semiconductors
in their products. The bank is forecasting a 20% average shortfall of computer
chips among affected industries, with some of the components used to make chips
in short supply until at least this fall and possibly into 2022.
Actually, as I pointed out the other
day, many
executives now expect the computer chip shortage to extend into 2023.
For automakers, this is rapidly becoming a complete and total
nightmare. During the first quarter, global auto production was down by
about 10 percent due to the chip shortage, but Ford has announced that
production in the second quarter will be down by about
50 percent…
Investors have heard plenty about the current state of capacity
problems for months. Roughly 2 million cars—or about 10% of quarterly global
automotive production—weren’t built in the first quarter because of no chips.
Ford Motor (ticker: F), one of the auto makers feeling the shortage most
acutely, said in late April that it expects to lose about 50% of planned second-quarter
production.
A 50 percent decline in production?
That is nuts!
If automakers can’t make vehicles, then they will have to start
laying off workers.
Unfortunately, that is precisely what just happened at one
factory in
northern Illinois…
Some 1,600 jobs are being cut at a Jeep Cherokee factory in
northern Illinois as automakers continue being plagued by the global shortage
of semiconductors.
The U.S. arm of Stellantis, formerly known as Fiat Chrysler, said
Friday it was cutting one of the two work shifts at its Belvidere Assembly
Plant as of July 26. That could result in the layoffs of 1,641 workers, company
spokeswoman Jodi Tinson said.
The economic optimists keep telling us that better days are right
around the corner, but those better days never seem to materialize.
Instead, employment is still way below pre-pandemic levels, global
supply chains are in a state of complete and utter chaos, and we are facing
severe shortages of just
about everything…
Copper, iron ore and steel. Corn, coffee, wheat and soybeans.
Lumber, semiconductors, plastic and cardboard for packaging. The world is
seemingly low on all of it. “You name it, and we have a shortage on it,” Tom
Linebarger, chairman and chief executive of engine and generator manufacturer
Cummins Inc., said on a call this month. Clients are “trying to get everything
they can because they see high demand,” Jennifer Rumsey, the Columbus,
Indiana-based company’s president, said. “They think it’s going to extend into
next year.”
The difference between the big crunch of 2021 and past supply
disruptions is the sheer magnitude of it, and the fact that there is — as far
as anyone can tell — no clear end in sight. Big or small, few businesses are
spared. Europe’s largest fleet of trucks, Girteka Logistics, says there’s been
a struggle to find enough capacity. Monster Beverage Corp. of Corona,
California, is dealing with an aluminum can scarcity. Hong Kong’s MOMAX
Technology Ltd. is delaying production of a new product because of a dearth of
semiconductors.
If this is the “recovery”, what will things look like when the next severe
economic downturn hits us?
In my entire lifetime, I have never seen such widespread
shortages.
Those that are running things keep insisting that they have
everything totally under control and that things will eventually get back to
normal.
You can believe them if you want, but millions of others are
preparing for a future in which their optimistic assessments of the future turn
out to be very, very wrong.
***Michael’s new book entitled “Lost Prophecies Of The Future Of
America” is now available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.***
RELATED STORIES
When demand is greater than supply: 10 items that are in
shortage right now
And the shortage might not end any time soon
Have you noticed higher
prices at the grocery store or other stores? A report earlier this month from the
Labor Department showed sharply higher prices for everything from food and
clothes to housing. A 10% surge in the prices of used cars and trucks — a
record jump — accounted for roughly one-third of last month’s overall
increases.
The cost of new cars was
up 0.5%, the largest increase since last July. Prices for vehicles, both used
and new, have been
soaring as
a result of heavy demand and a computer chip shortage that has slowed auto
production and reduced dealer supplies.
Shortages of goods and
parts related to disrupted supply chains have been a key factor.
Gas Prices Hit Six-Year High
New Studies: TV Makes You Stupid
Warnings Of A Dramatic Inflationary Collapse Just Keep Getting Louder
John Williams of shadowstats.com insists that we are “eventually
headed into a hyperinflationary economic collapse”…
SIDEBAR:
Since man first started chipping away at rocks to make
rudimentary tools, we have had knives of some form. From these early
beginnings, thousands upon thousands of knife designs have been created. Every
people on this planet have made a knife that reflects their culture and
lifestyle in some way.
Our modern age is no different.
Today we have countless blades to choose from for a wide variety of general or complex
tasks. But which one is right for you?
To help you find the
"perfect" knife for your needs, we have put together this quick
guide. Here we will cover the basics of knife design and help you understand
what you should be looking for. We will also include links to good knives that
are available for purchase...
How to Choose the
Right Knife: A Guide for Preppers
You may also like...
6 Best Budget-Friendly Knives For Preppers
Survival Knives Book , By James Morgan Ayres, former U.S. Special
Forces. Condition is "Brand New"
https://www.bonanza.com/listings/Survival-Knives-Book-By-James-Ayres-former-U
Useful stuff
Liberty
Band Emergency Solar Radio
Staying informed could be a matter
of life and death.
That’s why federal and state
agencies advise that every American home should have an emergency radio.
Don't
get caught off guard during a lengthy quarantine or natural disasters.
Preparation is, as usual, the absolute key...
https://www.bonanza.com/listings/Liberty-Band-Emergency-Solar-Radio/975136935
Useful
Resources from our storefront-See new items!
You Can’t
Buy Life Insurance After You’re Dead-Prepare NOW for Emergencies…
A
portion of our proceeds is donated to charitable Veterans groups such as
Wounded Warriors & the VFW!
Support our efforts by shopping my
storefront…
http://RetroGuy.net
