This article was originally published by Michael Snyder at The Economic Collapse Blog. 
Have you noticed that it is a lot harder to get certain things these days? Just recently, someone in my local area was surprised when her appointment to get the windshield on her vehicle fixed was canceled because it wasn’t possible to get a replacement windshield. This was a windshield for a very common vehicle, and normally that wouldn’t be a problem at all. But these are not normal times.
Thanks to several factors that I will detail in this article, global supply chains are now under more strain than we have ever seen in the post-World War II era, and unfortunately, it appears that things are going to get even worse as we approach the holiday season.
I know that most of you probably don’t want to hear that the shortages that we are experiencing now are going to get worse.
So you may be tempted to stop reading this article now because you don’t want to see the bad news.
But it is imperative that you understand what is ahead, and so I urge you to keep reading.
Let’s take this one step at a time. Right now, local news outlets all over the country are doing stories about the shortages in their areas. Here is one example…
Have you recently gone to the grocery store and found some of the shelves empty? If so, you aren’t alone.
Many people can’t find some of their favorite and essential items since the pandemic started.
As that article points out, the stores are trying to order the products that they need.
They just can’t get them.
This is happening all across the United States, and as a result the inventory to sales ratio for U.S. retailers has been pushed to the lowest level on record…
In April, May, and June, the inventory-sales ratio of around 1.08 – or about 33 days’ supply – was at the lowest point in the data going back to 1992. In the years before the pandemic, the overall ratio was around 1.5, providing 45 days of supply.
So why is this happening?
Well, the truth is that there are several contributing factors, and one of them is fear of COVID.
When a single worker recently tested positive for COVID, China shut down one of the busiest port terminals in the entire world “indefinitely”…
One of the world’s busiest ports partially closed this week after an employee tested positive for Covid-19. The closure raises fears of new disruptions to world trade that could slow the global economy’s recovery.
Meishan, a key terminal at China’s Ningbo-Zhoushan port, closed indefinitely Wednesday after a 34-year old worker tested positive for Covid-19. A member of the board of the Ningbo Port Group Company—which operates the port—also resigned Wednesday, citing personal reasons, reported China’s Securities Daily.
This wouldn’t be such a problem if we had not become so dependent on goods from China.
Other nations are severely overreacting to outbreaks of COVID as well, and this is making it harder and harder to move goods around the world on an efficient basis.
Another major factor that we are dealing with is a historic global shipping container shortage.
The demand for shipping containers greatly exceeds the supply, and this has pushed global shipping container rates to levels we have never seen before.
And once shipping containers are delivered to U.S. ports, there aren’t enough port workers to unload them all.
It can now literally take months for products that are made in China to get to the U.S. retailers that originally ordered them.
Of course, if those products contain computer chips, they may never arrive at all.
The global shortage of computer chips is deeply affecting thousands of other industries. For instance, it is being estimated that the global auto industry will produce 7.1 million fewer vehicles this year because of the chip shortage…
VW’s main plant in Wolfsburg is only going to be running on its early shift after summer break due to the lack of supply, Bloomberg reported this morning.
Its plant in Wolfsburg is the “world’s biggest car plant” and employs about 60,000 people. Audi is also pausing production temporarily, extending its summer break by one week, the report notes.
Global shortages of semiconductors could wind up cutting worldwide production of autos this year by about 7.1 million vehicles, Bloomberg predicted this morning.
Now we are moving into the holiday season, and many in the retail industry are anticipating a complete and utter disaster…
Reuters surveyed nearly a dozen suppliers and retailers of everything from toys to computer equipment in the United States and Europe. All expect weeks-long delays in holiday inventory due to shipping bottlenecks, including a global container shortage and the recent COVID-related closure of the southern Chinese port of Yantian, which serves manufacturers near Shenzhen.
One executive who was interviewed by Reuters said that we are heading for “a major, major mess”…
“It’s going to be a major, major mess,” said Isaac Larian, chief executive of Los Angeles-based MGA Entertainment Inc, which sells LOL Surprise, Bratz, Little Tikes and other toy brands to Amazon, Walmart and Target.
And another executive openly admitted that it is “too late” to save Christmas…
“It’s too late for Christmas,” said Thompson, founder of Washington-based Plugable Technologies.
This is what the immediate future of the U.S. economy looks like even if nothing else goes wrong.
So what is going to happen if another major crisis suddenly erupts in the middle of all this?
Whether at supermarkets, corner stores, or open-air markets, prices for food have been surging in much of the world, forcing families to make tough decisions about their diets. Meat is often the first to go, ceding space to less expensive proteins such as dairy, eggs, or beans. In some households, a glass of milk has become a luxury reserved only for children; fresh fruit, once deemed a necessity, is now a treat.
Food prices in July were up 31% from the same month last year, according to an index compiled by the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization.
Have global paychecks risen 31 percent over the past year to keep up?
No way.
As a result, many are having a much harder time buying the food that they need and more people are going hungry. Needless to say, this is setting the stage for the sort of global crisis that I have been warning about.
There was so much optimism during the first half of 2021, but now everyone is starting to realize which way all the needles are pointing.
Very choppy seas are ahead, and those at the helm do not seem to know what they are doing.
***It is finally here! Michael’s new book entitled “7 Year Apocalypse” is now available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.***
About the Author: My name is Michael Snyder and my brand new book entitled “7 Year Apocalypse” is now available on Amazon.com. In addition to my new book, I have written five others that are available on Amazon.com including “Lost Prophecies Of The Future Of America”, “The Beginning Of The End”, “Get Prepared Now”, and “Living A Life That Really Matters”. (#CommissionsEarned) By purchasing the books you help to support the work that my wife and I are doing, and by giving it to others you help to multiply the impact that we are having on people all over the globe. I have published thousands of articles on The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream, and The Most Important News, and the articles that I publish on those sites are republished on dozens of other prominent websites all over the globe. I always freely and happily allow others to republish my articles on their own websites, but I also ask that they include this “About the Author” section with each article. The material contained in this article is for general information purposes only, and readers should consult licensed professionals before making any legal, business, financial, or health decisions. I encourage you to follow me on social media on Facebook and Twitter, and anyway that you can share these articles with others is a great help. During these very challenging times, people will need hope more than ever before, and it is our goal to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with as many people as we possibly can.
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When the government was lobbied and then allowed businesses to be sent overseas and we become a country that is not self sustaining our throats were cut and was just a matter of time before we bled out and that is happening before our eyes!
They sent the equipment as well and so it would be a hard road to hoe for us to get back to being a self sustaining country and that won’t happen unless the current corruption is REMOEVD from DC and the Banksters as well.
Is this why ammo is in such short supply, and does it mean it is going to get even more expensive and harder to find?
I have found numerous articles on-line that summarizes what many of already realize, these are a few extracts.
Organized “domestic-t*rr*rism” and “ins*rr*ctions” are an illusion, they are not real. It is nothing more than a State plot to round up and incarcerate dissenters.
Covid-t#rr#rism is just such an example. It has been conceived, designed, developed, and deployed for the purposes of depopulation, to increase State power, and as a tool to help obtain total control over society. Anyone who questions covid is publicly berated, censured, ridiculed, or shut down (by both State entities and big tech). No free speech for anything covid, no facts outside of the State, no questioning the State. Those who don’t comply with every covid mandate will eventually become targets of the State.
There is no great danger to the citizens from foreigners, white supremacists, domestic dissenters, etc. Rather, it is the State that is hostile against the people; with the help of pharma, the MSM, big tech, and various other entities (both open and secret), and they will be rewarded for their cooperation.
The State has issued a bulletin saying domestic anti-gov’t/anti-authority extr*mists are the highest threat to Amer. This is nothing more than a State sponsored threat to anyone who dissents, who questions covid, who will not be slavishly compliant to the will of the State, who merely does not believe an official narrative, or questions authority.
The State says it will “evaluate” on-line content that spreads “disinformation”, or “conspiracy theories”, or “false narratives”. This is a warning to all those who speak outside of the official narrative.
One State tool is the use of provocateurs. They are used to incite one to say or do something that can be used against them, that will provide grist for propaganda, to discredit individuals and entities, and to fabricate a case against a target(s). Another is the use of “red flags” events or incidents, which may persuade citizens to approve of authoritarian measures put in place to deal with a perceived (though manufactured) danger to include curbing or denial of rights, censorship, and more powers to police.
The “covid pandemic” belies the real State motive, it is merely a ways and means, a technique, the agency, the method to initiate the following control “measures”:
-mandatory vaccination, indefinite lockdowns/home imprisonment, and covid passports,
-special units of “covid police” at all levels of gov’t with extra-Constitutional powers,
-interstate travel banned without covid vaccination,
-checkpoints and inspection of documents at city/county/state borders, on secondary roads, at airports, ports, and train/bus terminals,
-internment camps for the unvaccinated (which is a euphemism for dissenters, “extr#mists”, non-conformists, etc.)
-denial of employment,
-supply line shutdowns,
-food shortages.
All for our safety of course. This is what the State calls good gov’t. It is the State which presents the greatest threat to the people. You may rationally assume every electronic trail you create is being monitored, read, categorized, recorded, and stored by the State.
We have mostly a virtual/service economy. No real goods produced. It relies on social media ad payouts to people that post nonsense and become rich influencers. These internet sites provide income from words, yet produce no goods…just bullshit.
It relies on virtual money to pay people to wash each other’s cars and cut each other’s hair and “doctor” each other’s ailments. No production of goods from actual resources. No added value.
It exports very little besides weapons of war and financial fraud. Real goods need imported. Here, I’ll post this again.
The Progression of an Economy:
Agrarian========>
Industrial========>
Service=========> <======You are here
Collapse
Worldwide demand for U.S. treasuries is sky high and going higher.
Thousands of American citizens stranded in Afghanistan and VP Harris is worried your kids won’t get their Christmas presents. VP Harris urges you to shop now!
It appears the prez and his people are basically indifferent to Amer. stuck in Afghanistan, but sure as hell using every resource and even willfully breaking fed. laws to move masses of 3rd worlders across our borders and flood into the country. Why is anyone surprised?
Get everything now, it won’t be available later…forget Christmas. get enough food to last til next harvest season. have the ability to defend it and line up like minded people to protect and help each other…
Sound advice Jim, and not just food but other disposable items and goods that may be difficult or expensive to obtain later. Grocery stores, hardware stores, auto part stores, pharmacies, bulk item stores, discount stores, etc. Everyone should be compiling a list for each one of these type stores to get the items they may need in the future. I recommend consulting a good prepper site for ideas. As often said – it’s better to have it and not need it, than need it and not have it.
“Chuckle”
Yes, you should consult a good prepper site. This used to be one but now it is 95% just anti-vaxx material.
Ration card will be next, and you won’t be getting a ration card without proof you took the jab.