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)