It’s frustrating to see the bottlenecks and supply-chain problems not getting better – in fact, the margins are apparently getting a little bit worse… We see that continuing into next year probably, and holding up inflation longer than we thought.
Jerome Powell (Fed Chair)
Be honest: did you expect “competent” and “moderate” Joe Biden to mis-manage the economy? The bad news, such as union strikes hitting a 75-year high, was expected from socialist Bernie Sanders, but not Lunch Bucket Joe. The saving grace is America has 9.3 million C and S corporations that don’t need a government handout. But, their president should not make matters worse.
The president’s advisors are more aware of politics than core fundamentals, like America’s demography or the symbiosis of global trade partners. Even before the pandemic, boomers and millennials were set to disrupt the economy by retiring (fewer truckers) and starting families (no houses). The pandemic fueled immediacy, but Biden’s team has gone nine months without a plan to fix the nation’s labor shortages, empty shelves, and rising prices. Say it ain’t so, Joe!
Bidenomics Invited a Labor Shortage
Candidate Biden lost me with a promise to be the most pro-union president in decades. Right now, 100,000 union workers are on strike, with another 84,000 threatening to strike next week. Compare this to 2020, when only 1,000 workers held 8 strikes (source: BLS). Asked to respond, Jen Psaki said, “The president [says] this is the most pro-union administration in history, strongly supporting unions and the right to strike.” Her honesty is no consolation for those who need product.
America’s being crippled by a 100,000 truck-driver shortage that Biden apologist Paul Krugman (New York Times) blames on “long-suffering American workers [hitting] their breaking point.” Nice try, when demography is the actual problem: women are just 7.8% of all truck drivers, millennials only 20%, and the average truck driver is 55 years old. The solution is replacing retirees with jobless drop-outs and giving half the US workforce (women) incentives to become truck drivers.
If you think Mr. Biden is pro-business, then why did he push the Peoples Right To Organize act that would neuter state right-to-work laws? Which, when it could not surmount a filibuster, got buried inside the Build Back Better bill. It’s increasingly clear his policies created a labor crisis that should not be. Today, at my industry’s big trade show, every retailer told me Biden’s rent waivers, jobless benefits, and vaccine mandates are to blame for worker walk-outs and lay-outs.
Bidenomics Invites Empty Shelves and Higher Prices
Not only is my family business hurt by chaos in its supply chain, I cannot furnish my retirement nest. Try getting a container out of Vietnam or windows in Florida (you can’t). A transportation crisis is crippling the economy, 250,000 containers flounder off US ports, and DOT Secretary Buttigieg has experience managing South Bend’s 60 bus fleet. Asked about the bottlenecks, Buttigieg admitted the “challenges” could go on for years – after cracking a joke about Christmas stock-outs.
The Secretary’s bad joke resulted in The Hill calling his leadership “amateur hour,” which could also apply to the President and his chief of staff. It wasn’t funny in June when, hearing employers couldn’t find workers, Biden creepily whispered, “pay them more.” Ronald Klain looked silly touting September’s 4.8% jobless rate by re-tweeting, “inflation, supply chains, etc. are high class problems.” Comedy hour is no substitute for sound economic policy.
My family business now pays $16,000 for a 40-foot container that cost $3500 fifteen months ago. A container from Asia now takes 75 days to arrive on a trip that took 35 days a year ago. Our industry’s rate of inflation is now 11%. I just paid $3.17 for a gallon of gas that cost $2.19 in January. My never-whines secretary just whined about grocery prices. And, worst of all, many retailers told me Saturday they expect a “down” fourth quarter.
It Smells Like 1977 and Billy Beer Again
I entered the family business in May 1977, during the rudderless Carter years. Thus, I know a rudderless presidency when I see it, and why Biden’s average approval is 43.8% and disapproval is 52.4%. His presidency is rudderless: not enough support for producers, and not enough predictability for sellers and end users. Voters, on the left and right, are confused by the flip-flops and frightened by the gaffes.
Mr. Biden ran as a “moderate” to wrest his party’s nomination from socialist Bernie Sanders, then flipped left once in office. He campaigned as a “competent” diplomat to wrest the presidency from “unhinged” Donald Trump, then flipped off the UK’s Johnson and France’s Macron this summer. He refused “Trump’s vaccine” as a candidate, then mandated it for others as president. He killed fracking, then flipped to “the oil industry to help tame oil prices” (source: Politico).
His gaffes, of course, include the Mexican border and Afghanistan, but the worst might lie ahead. Deutsche Bank’s latest monthly survey found investors now fear inflation more than COVID. Tuesday, the IMF cut its 2021 growth forecast and anticipated long-term inflation. Wednesday, CNBC headlines read: Weekly Mortgage Demand Stalls – Consumer Prices Rise More Than Expected – Record 4.3 Million Workers Quit Their Jobs. Retailers fear he’s already cancelled their Christmas.
The guess here is most voters wanted Joe Biden to succeed in February, but now just hope he’s not Jimmy Carter deja vu. I remember Billy Bear tasted like cat p*ss, the national debt was $699 billion, and stagflation hurt businesses in the Carter years – and I know Hunter Biden cannot paint, the national debt is $28.4 trillion, and stagflation might kill the economy in 2022. Bidenomics is clearly not working, so let’s hope he channels Bill Clinton, says “sorry, Sanders” and wheels right.
