Shortages

Shortages are a distinctive feature of the United States in the time of COVID and in the Trump years as a whole.

They are a new thing. In my lifetime the US has always been a place of plenty. In Trump’s strongman capitalism the economy comes second to his hold on power.

Shortages were a feature of the Soviet Union. I witnessed the strange dysfunction of the market visiting East German in the 1980s. It was like nothing I had ever seen until now.

The causes of shortages included:

  • Trump’s trade war with China. Tariffs. Retaliation.
  • COVID-related manufacturing, farming and distribution shutdowns
  • Closing of the schools, related to COVID. Move to remote learning.

Here are some shortages that come to mind.

  • Chromebooks (trade war, remote learning)
  • toilet paper (COVID)
  • meat (COVID)
  • eggs (COVID)
  • bikes (caused by trade war)

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