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Two Shortages That Threaten To Absolutely Eviscerate The Global Economy In 2022
This was supposed to be the year that things “got back to normal”,
but here we are at the end of January and things have only gotten worse.
As we move forward into February and beyond, there are two key global shortages
that we are going to want to keep a very close eye on. One of them is the
rapidly growing fertilizer shortage. A few days ago, the Wall
Street Journal ominously warned that “high fertilizer prices are weighing
on farmers across the developing world”…
From South America’s avocado, corn and coffee farms to Southeast
Asia’s plantations of coconuts and oil palms, high fertilizer prices are
weighing on farmers across the developing world, making it much costlier to
cultivate and forcing many to cut back on production.
That means grocery bills could go up even more in 2022, following
a year in which global food prices rose to decade highs. An uptick would
exacerbate hunger—already acute in some parts of the world because of
pandemic-linked job losses—and thwart efforts by politicians and central
bankers to subdue inflation.
According to the International Fertilizer Development Center,
exceedingly high fertilizer prices could result in a reduction of agricultural
output in Africa alone “equivalent
to the food needs of 100 million people”.
So this is a really, really big deal.
And this crisis is going to deeply affect us here in the United
States too. The following comes from a recent piece authored by
U.S. Senator Roger Marshall…
It’s no secret farmers are faced with a fertilizer crisis. Prices
for phosphorus-based and potassium-based (potash) fertilizers have more than
doubled in Kansas while Nitrogen-based fertilizers have more than quadrupled.
Fertilizer is vital to feeding not only the country, but the world. It contains
essential nutrients for plant life, and without it, American agricultural
yields will quickly suffer as well as food prices in local grocery stores.
As I discussed the other
day,
these crazy prices for fertilizer are going to make it impossible for many U.S.
farmers to profitably plant crops this year.
That means that a lot less food is going to be grown.
On the other side of the world, the North Korean government is
asking their citizens to start creating “homemade” fertilizer from
their own waste…
State-run media has also been encouraging people to make
“homemade” manure, The Daily Beast reported. A source in North Hamgyong
Province told Daily NK that residents had started “producing fertilizer from
human waste” after authorities launched a 10-day drive to increase production.
Perhaps U.S. citizens should give this a try, because a lot of us
are certainly full of crap.
The other major shortage that I want to highlight in this article
is the ongoing computer chip shortage.
According to a report that was just put out by the Department of Commerce,
chip inventories around the nation have
become dangerously thin…
Today, the U.S. Department of Commerce released the results from
the Risks in the Semiconductor Supply Chain Request for Information (RFI)
issued in Sept. 2021. Key findings from the report provided data-driven
information about the depths of the semiconductor shortage and underscored the need
for the President’s proposed $52 billion in domestic semiconductor production.
The RFI showed that median inventory held by chips consumers
(including automakers or medical device manufacturers, as examples) has fallen
from 40 days in 2019 to less than 5 days in 2021. If a COVID outbreak, a
natural disaster, or political instability disrupts a foreign semiconductor
facility for even just a few weeks, it has the potential to shut down a
manufacturing facility in the U.S., putting American workers and their families
at risk.
At this point, computer chips used to produce automobiles and
medical devices are particularly in short supply.
In a blog post, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimando explained that a
lack of chips resulted in “$210
billion in lost revenue” for automakers in 2021…
“In 2021, auto prices drove one-third of all inflation, primarily
because we don’t have enough chips,” Raimando wrote in her blogpost.
“Automakers produced nearly 8 million fewer cars last year than expected, which
some analysts believe resulted in more than $210 billion in lost revenue.”
If there is additional disruption to chip production this year,
2022 could easily be even worse.
Many may wonder why we just don’t plop down a bunch of factories
and start pumping out more chips.
Unfortunately, it isn’t that easy. Chip factories take a
very long time to build, and we are being warned that it could take “until
2023” before
things return to normal…
But industry executives aren’t optimistic that the funding would
help alleviate the crisis, the Washington Post reported. They argued federal
funding could help build up the long-term supply of chips but wouldn’t help in
the short term because chip factories take years to build.
Chip consumers that were surveyed by the department similarly
estimated that shortages wouldn’t go away in the next six months, and some
suggested it could take until 2023.
We should have never become so dependent on chip production in
Asia.
Today, Taiwan accounts for a whopping 63
percent of
all computer chip production in the world…
The majority of chip factories are currently based in Asia, which
houses about 87% of the market share of semiconductor factories (with Taiwan
alone accounting for some 63%), separate industry data indicates. The political
climate in the region, and tensions between Taiwan and China, has come under
renewed scrutiny as the shortage has exposed how much U.S. industry relies on
these sources.
So what is going to happen to our economy if China invades Taiwan
and our main supply of computer chips gets completely cut off?
I have been warning for years that military
conflict with China is coming, and now we are closer than ever.
What is our economy going to look like if a Chinese invasion of
Taiwan this year instantly puts us into a state of war with the Chinese?
How in the world will we even be able to function as a society?
You might want to start thinking about such questions, because
what was once “unimaginable” threatens to become reality in 2022.
***It is finally here! Michael’s new book entitled “7 Year
Apocalypse” is now available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.***
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SIDEBAR
December inflation
numbers:
The Consumer Price Index was up 7% for the year. And the Producer Price Index
(which usually predicts what's ahead for the CPI) was up 9.7% in 2021.
(source: U.S. Bureau of Labor
Statistics)
A recent PBS
article "Federal Reserve expected to raise interest rates in fight against
inflation" (source: PBS.org)
highlights something that we should all be aware of.
And it's
unlikely to be a one-time event. Goldman Sachs, a very large investment banking
firm, expects the Fed to hike interest rates 4 times this year as inflation
risks grow. If you're younger than 55 you probably don't remember the inflation
of the late 70s and early 80s. Mortgage rates over 10% were common.
So, if you
have any loans where the interest rate can rise, you need to pay them off now.
Typically you don't think of your credit card accounts as having a variable
interest rate. But most cards can change your rate if they want to. If banks
pay more for the money they lend you, they'll want you to pay more, too. The Best Credit Card
Repayment Options can help you reduce the balance quickly.
If you
haven't already (or if your rate is above 3%), now is the time to refinance
your mortgage. Rates will almost certainly be higher a year from now. And they
may not be this low again for many years. You'll find this article helpful.
Refinancing is especially important if you have a so-called 'balloon payment'
coming up.
Inflation
hurts everyone, but especially those who are trying to watch their dollars
carefully.
Economic Forces Are out of Control, and Millions of Americans Will
Suffer.
By stockpiling multipurpose items, you won't have to spend as
much money on things that only have one function. This will save you some cash
and make you more prepared...
18 Inexpensive Items You Should Stockpile Right Now
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45 Dirt-Cheap Items That Will Soon Be Hard To Find
When it comes to stockpiling food, shelf life is by far one of
the most important factors that preppers must pay attention to. While most
foods will have a limited shelf-life, there are a few foods that can be safely
stored for more than one hundred years.
If you are looking for foods that you never have to worry about
going bad, check out these seventeen survival foods that can last a century.
However, before you go out and start buying them, keep in mind
that these foods will only last a century if they're stored properly. Be sure
to read the food storage section at the end of the article for more
information...
17 Survival Foods That Can Last A Century
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25 Survival Foods You Forgot to Buy
America’s Most
Dangerous Unknown Man
The US Senate will soon vote on Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome
Powell’s nomination to a second term. One of the senators opposing Powell is
Elizabeth Warren. I don’t often agree with Senator Warren, but I do agree with her
assessment that Powell is “dangerous.” However, Warren actually doesn’t
understand what makes Powell, or any Fed chairman, intrinsically dangerous to
liberty and prosperity.
Warren thinks Powell is dangerous because she thinks he will not
be supportive enough of imposing her desired new regulations on banks and other
financial institutions. Senator Warren, like most progressives, clings to a
fantastical notion that regulations benefit workers, consumers, and small
businesses. The truth is most regulations benefit large corporations by
imposing costs that big businesses can easily absorb, but that their smaller
competitors cannot.
Powell is a threat to the American people. Under his tenure, the
Fed has kept interest rates at or near zero. The Fed’s balance sheet has grown
to over eight trillion dollars. This has caused prices to climb at a rate
America has not seen in several decades.
DOJ awards anti-crime
grants to Soros-tied groups backing anti-cop reforms linked to crime explosion
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