Shortages

[Kapitan]

As we all know the UK is suffering shortages right now and its being exacerbated in the press that its all down to Brexit, well I contest that and here’s why:

There is a shortage of drivers globally, Poland is short 124,000, Germany is short 45,000 France 43,000 to give you three European figures

Source 1: https://www.globalcoldchainnews.com/driver-shortage-is-pan-european/

Source 2: https://www.iru.org/resources/newsroom/new-iru-survey-shows-driver-shortages-soar-2021

The UK is claiming 100,000 driver shortages, however; we currently have a back log of 40,000 potential drivers awaiting a test date for their HGV licences, this has been caused by COVID shutdowns of test stations.
Another factor in the shortage of drivers is the closing of the IR35 tax loop hole, which has meant LTD company drivers now having to pay increased taxes.

In July 2021, the (UK) Road Haulage Association conducted a survey about driver shortages, with the top reason provided being "drivers retiring" (58.54 percent) - a problem the industry had suffered with for several years.

There is also a decline in under 25’s entering in to the industry, coupled with people who hold HGV licences that are unwilling to do the job for various reasons and what are those reasons?

First of all low wages, pre 2021 the average driver earned approximately £25,000 per year, this is roughly the UK average wage pre covid.
When you work out how many hours a driver does for that wage you get a realisation that they have been duped.
The average EU worker does a 38 hour week, the average truck driver will do between 50-60 hours per week, this means wages can work out to be as low as £8 per hour.

Now factor in a lot of drivers will be away from home 4 or more nights per week and in some cases a lot longer.
While away from home the driver will be living in a steel and fiberglass box that measures roughly 12 meters cubed, the driver will also have to be his own security guard while parked up because even in secure parking thefts of loads and diesel still happen.
Now place on top of all that if the driver parks in a secure rest area he will likely be paying £25 or more for that privilege.
The service areas facilities in many cases are well below hygienic, all to often showers are broken, unsanitary and not fit for use.

While on the road the driver will be expected to obey the Tachograph legislation which limits their driving time, also monitoring the working time directive, also factoring in route planning and delivery time constraints while making sure all the time your compliant to keep the DVSA and VOSA happy.
This is without having to deal with other road users, comply with weight limits and bridge limits, time restrictions in certain areas specifically London and now the low emission and Ultra low emission zones in London.

When it all does go wrong the driver is usually the first one blamed, they are also held responsible for any incidents or accidents regardless of fault until proven otherwise, in worst case scenarios they will have to face the traffic commissioner to explain their actions.

And your doing that for £8 per hour in some cases.

But the UK is not alone in this across the pond the USA and Canada also have driver shortages, so much so both the USA and Canada have recently made changes to their immigration policies essentially fast tracking foreign drivers who apply for visas

USA Driver shortages article august 2021 https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-08-02/a-trucking-crisis-has-the-u-s-looking-for-more-drivers-abroad

Canada driver shortage article https://www.trucknews.com/blogs/understanding-canadas-truck-driver-shortage/

The International Road Union (IRU) (which work in conjunction with the world economic forum) Have stated the following:

"Transport companies however forecast driver shortages to intensify again in 2021 as economies recover and demand for transport services increases. European companies are expecting a 17% shortfall in drivers this year. This shortfall is expected to reach 18% in Mexico, 20% in Turkey, 24% in Russia, and almost one third in Uzbekistan."

Source: https://www.iru.org/resources/newsroom/new-iru-survey-shows-driver-shortages-soar-2021

While we are all aware of the current problems in the UK blaming the entire drivers shortage and Brexit for causing a food shortage this isn’t entirely accurate, nor is the UK alone in this problem.

The USA has recently had food shortages in some areas and I highlight some recent articles in which shows that this is the case.
I went for a variety of sources spread over the USA to show that it is not concentrated in one area.

June 28 2021 reporting on Los Angeles area

https://www.reuters.com/business/stretched-global-supply-chain-means-shortages-summer-menus-2021-06-28/

July 2021 reporting on South Carolina

https://www.counton2.com/news/local-news/charleston-county-news/nationwide-shortages-causing-price-increases-mostly-with-groceries-and-food/

September 3 2021 reporting on New York

https://kstp.com/coronavirus/local-restaurants-face-food-supply-shortages-us-foods/6226414/

Bloombergs overview August 24 2021

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-08-24/u-s-food-suppliers-are-having-trouble-keeping-shelves-stocked

It is much deeper than you think between Canada and the USA right now in terms of food shortages, yes some states in the USA have some shortages but they do have one key thing Europe doesn’t and that is substantial farm lands and a larger geographical land mass with a population less than Europe.

Therefore blaming everything on brexit isn't the right thing when the evidence shows its not entirely down to brexit for food and driver shortages its due to largely to world events and trends that's affecting global shortages and its not just the UK that is suffering as demonstrated.

Such shortages are also exacerbated because shipping containers which are currently stacked up in China Europe and the USA are unable to be forwarded or filled due to lack of ships in the right place and lack of containers in their right positions.

As many are aware containers carry the bulk of food stuffs globally and with the Suez canal shut down for one week because of the Ever Given debacle it has caused substantial delays in ports across the globe, add on COVID and port shut downs due to this means container traffic has come pretty close to a complete standstill, not to mention containers that are also currently stuck at sea awaiting berthing.

The global network of container ships is at least 4-6 weeks behind schedule and with nearly all developed economies using the Just In Time method for their supply chains this has a massive knock on effect in imports and export markets globally

See: https://www.wsj.com/articles/where-did-all-the-shipping-containers-go-11628104583

As for Brexit in terms of freight movements into the EU from the UK on the customs clearance side it appears to have straightened out, we are seeing precleared goods transiting without delay cross border in substantial numbers, yes its more paperwork but this was to be expected.

Had the UK gone to WTO rules it would be a similar case in terms of customs clearance and forms etc, but the UK goods would have likely moved under TIR Carnet regulations which is what Norway Switzerland Ukraine Kazakhstan Belarus and Iran among others use to come into and out of Europe daily and they do this without delays, so naturally this was always a possibility for the UK as well.

In summing up the Driver, Container and food shortages are not just persistent in the UK, but as demonstrated this is clearly a global problem in road transport as well as the shipping industry.
I believe this current situation highlights key fundamental problems using the Just in time method in some cases, but overall once world trade returns to a stable platform we can chalk this up as experience.

Acknowledging that Brexit has caused some issues which should have been expected I do not think Brexit is the sole reason for the problems the UK because other nations are facing the same issues right now in their supply chains, and transport systems.

[Catfish]

Let a few rich people profit from the destruction of the economy. It almost looks as if it is exactly what England and Wales voted for.

So not only the bar stuff left, also lorry drivers do not deliver beer anymore.
Brexit threw out thousands of workers and european drivers, an additional part then left in anger. It was a big thing not only in the media, demonstrations and strategy plans of companies to handle the situation. A lot of people are angry.

Seems Ireland found a solution :03:


https://i.imgur.com/M8VEsEWl.jpg

[Kapitan]

Just want to put to bed the myth about this new ferry route bypassing England from Ireland to upset brexit plans

Irish ferries started to operate from Dublin to Cherbourg route way back in 2013 so this is pre referendum so clearly has nothing to do with brexit all the ferry operators have done which they have been working on for a long time by the way is increased the frequency

Source https://www.google.ca/amp/s/www.marinelink.com/amp/news/dublincherbourg-launches361469

The biggest issue for a lot of workers wasn’t brexit it was the closing of the IR35 tax loophole a lot of drivers of all nationalities (me too bc lider) benefited from this yet as soon as it closed they upped and left

25,000 left the UK and we have 40,000 waiting to do tests yet there remains huge shortages globally with drivers not just in the UK and if you look at Poland who are stating they are 125,000 short Then you understand that no one really wants to do the job

That’s the real truth not many actually want to do the job anymore and it’s not because of brexit it’s because of many things but the common theme around the world is pay conditions and long hours

[Catfish]

True, also Corona has to be seen in perspective..

https://www.archyde.com/the-truck-drivers-left-for-the-mainland/

Still, there is no shortage experience here at the mainland, maybe it comes but .. we all know lorry drivers are badly paid so it is no wonder few want to go this way, especially when "foreigners" did it before.

We have a lot of foreigners here, too, people from Africa, Syriah and so on working for delivery services and trade transports, and a few have problems with the language, but it generally works quite well up to now.
Of course, if they needed a visum for every country in the EU it would be as painful as ridiculous.

[Kapitan]

Lorry drivers have been poorly paid for decades that I can agree
Drivers in 2018 were earning the same wage as they were in 1998 so 20 years worth of compounded inflation meant wage cuts in real terms

There’s a lot wrong with the EU system don’t get me wrong some of it is actually good and well thought out and implemented but other parts are just plain stupid

With the IR35 loophole closed many drivers simply did other jobs (as I did) all they wanted was the chance to actually earn a living that was decent for the task in hand

What we have seen now is 20 years worth of compounded stagnation come back to bite the government and industry squarely in the ass

[Catfish]

Still i would not underestimate brexit of having an impact. The exodus started in 2016.

Of course "When the pandemic struck and European trade slowed down, drivers were furloughed. Many went back to their home countries, to be with family.

But "Since the effects of Brexit, they haven't wanted to come back," explained Mr Gray.
"They can earn just as much in Germany, France or Poland, so there's no real need to be in the UK."

Since 1 January, EU citizens are covered by a new immigration system, which gives priority to high-skilled roles.
But HGV drivers are not among the list of eligible skilled occupations (https://www.gov.uk/skilled-worker-visa/your-job) which means they are excluded from a skilled work visa.
So although it was Covid that made European drivers leave the UK, the new post-Brexit rules have stopped them coming back.

The Home Office said employers should "focus on investing in our domestic workforce, rather than relying on labour from abroad"."

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-somerset-57656327

Can't expect Priti Patel to call back those bloody foreigners :hmmm:

[Skybird]

There are hiddne shortages over here, too, Catfish, due to broken supply lines. The fiasco in the suez Channel, the problems in that one big Chinese mega harbour and Corona quarantines count for that. Mainly it is still about supplies needed in the producing industry. It gets felt my riasing prices, longer times you have to wait for something or someone, and products unavialable (PS5 as an exmaple, or cars delivered without certain computer-run features and just one smart key because of chip shortages). Myself I am waiting since 10 weeks for an electricion to show up to repair a wall mont, and he will not come before another 4 weeks. Here, another factor weighs in: demographics, and general shortages in qualified craftsman.

I placed a new test order for Ubiquinol from the UK. Lets see whether it runs better early this year. Back then the order stalled completely and the involved company said they retire from continental business completely. I hope it works, saves me an awful lot of money even with now increased custoimes and shipping. Shipping time is not so much a concern, as long as it finally arrives they can even take several weeks, if they want. German prices: 60x 200mg Ubiquinol 70-90 Euros. UK price if you check carefull and look out for good offers: 365x 200mg 75 Euros including VATS, plus customs. It does not compare. :D

[3catcircus]

As was originally mentioned, this is a world-wide issue. It isn't just the trucking industry. Merchant mariners, freight train engineers, cargo plane pilots - all of them have tons of regulation, long hours, and lower pay than they should.

It gets back, however, to entrepreneurialship. In the US, the average base annual pay for a truck driver is around $45,000. For an owner-operator, the average is around 3x that.

Likewise - merchant mariner salaries depend upon what certifications you are willing to obtain a well as the type of vessel you work on.

Freight train engineers in the US start around $37000/year and at the 8 year point, it isn't even double that.

While the pay for jet cargo pilots at the big carriers is good, you gotta get there first - so pilots are behind the 8-ball salary-wise as they build hours and obtain certs and ratings.

Really, the issue is that freight haulers are in the service industry, so they aren't given the pay they deserve for doing work that isn't front-and-center until they stop doing it, resulting in bare shelves at stores and empty tanks at petrol stations. In the US, it doesn't help that unions are still nothing more than piggy-banks for organized crime (first the mafia, then realty, politics, insurance and banking - and it's worse now when it's all legal-like).

[mapuc]

Here in Denmark and in Sweden factories like Volvo has come to a standstill..lack of components.

In the Swedish news they said that now it's things like component, but shortages on Food could also be a reality.

Markus

[3catcircus]

Here in Denmark and in Sweden factories like Volvo has come to a standstill..lack of components.

In the Swedish news they said that now it's things like component, but shortages on Food could also be a reality.

Markus

I think that the entire world is currently balancing on the point of a dagger. Shortages, COVID restrictions (and lack of transparency from China, Ecohealth Alliance, and the NIAID leading to the very real possibility of this being a man-made pandemic), social unrest spurred on by social media, many more coups and brushfire wars than in the past...

It's all going to come to a head.

The question is - how? Considering that we are constantly seeing, very quietly and not highly publicized, a lot of advances in our basic science understanding about multiple varied areas, I hope that this would result in a new golden age for the entire planet. The realist in me, however, feels that we're more likely to destroy ourselves...

Shortages of basic resources can very likely be the match that lights off the whole thing... How many people in western democracies are able to grow their own food? Here in the US, we see how quickly society collapses every time there's is a natural disaster and electricity is lost for more than a day or two... There are currently "roof Arabs" killing looters in Louisiana after hurricane Ida passed through. In other western democracies that don't have a 2nd Amendment, I would be concerned that if resource shortages increase, that people might turn to lawlessness on a more routine basis.

[Jimbuna]

As alread stated, it is a worldwide problem and at least twelve months will be needed to sort it out.

BREXIT only exasperated the situation here in the UK.

[Kapitan]

Still i would not underestimate brexit of having an impact. The exodus started in 2016.

Of course "When the pandemic struck and European trade slowed down, drivers were furloughed. Many went back to their home countries, to be with family.

But "Since the effects of Brexit, they haven't wanted to come back," explained Mr Gray.
"They can earn just as much in Germany, France or Poland, so there's no real need to be in the UK."

Since 1 January, EU citizens are covered by a new immigration system, which gives priority to high-skilled roles.
But HGV drivers are not among the list of eligible skilled occupations (https://www.gov.uk/skilled-worker-visa/your-job) which means they are excluded from a skilled work visa.
So although it was Covid that made European drivers leave the UK, the new post-Brexit rules have stopped them coming back.

The Home Office said employers should "focus on investing in our domestic workforce, rather than relying on labour from abroad"."

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-somerset-57656327

Can't expect Priti Patel to call back those bloody foreigners :hmmm:


In all honesty here Catfish I have never been against foreign labor working in the UK, like many nations the UK is built on foreigners. (it wasn't this that prompted me to vote leave either and yes I stand by my vote)

A big issue I have is a HGV driver must under go testing and re training every 5 years, yet is considered unskilled labor even though if I went an got a job driving a 360 on a building site I'm classified as skilled labor, this needs to change, HGV driving is a skill set in its own right and need to be recognized as such.

My biggest issues surrounding immigration is just how quickly it really did get out of hand and it couldn't be managed because we had to have an open border as part of the EU agreement.
I worked with a lot of Romanian, Polish, Bulgarian drivers employed many of them too and they were fantastic guys to work with.
Even they could see the affect the open border policies were having on their own countries, one of the drivers I worked with Marius went home to his own village which before joining had a population of over 10,000 people had only 2,500 people in it.
Lets not forget history here with the mass exodus and brain drain from East Germany in the 50's and 60's its the entire reason they built the Berlin wall to stop it.

They need to do what the USA Australia New Zealand and Canada do and that targeted immigration, This is the first time I have ever seen Truck drivers enter the list of in demand occupations in the USA, and they are giving priority to that group and I think the UK should do the same with a caveat which states you have to prove that you have previously worked in the UK for a UK company in order to get a visa (in this instance)
Going forward the visa supply should be as the need is required on a case by case basis like it is in the other countries mentioned.

Those countries rather than getting all the benefits of Europe and lets be truthful there are many benefits being in Europe ended up suffering because their own people got up and left, this clearly didn't help them countries.

When you look at what took place between 2004 and 2020 an increase of close to 10 million in the population that is un sustainable in the long term.
The UK infrastructure and housing just could not keep up, in London & South East they need to build close to 240,000 new homes per year to keep pace and right now they are managing only 100,000 per year.
That makes it almost impossible for young people to even get on the housing ladder.

Yes I'm lucky I own my own home in the UK outright and yes I have a second home in Canada.
My 3 bedroom bungalow in the UK is valued at £425,000 in reality a first time buyer has next to no hope of even being able to afford paying that market price. (and yes I am very lucky I do not deny that at all)

I also take issue with my own industry here as well and hold them predominantly to blame for the current issues, which is no fault of the EU (but they do have some fault to bare) in this respect and here's why.

When the first groups of migrants came over mainly from Poland haulage companies saw a big opportunity to exploit the new labor coming in.
Knowing that the UK £ was much better than the other currencies in Europe the companies basically started underpaying drivers.
If we look at it and what happened using this hypothetical (but near reality) scenario if Gregorz came in the door with a class 1 license he was getting £100 a day to do the same job as me and I was on £130 per day clearly no brainer you don't want me working for you I cost too much money.

Quickly other companies cottoned on and reduced the wages, the British driver was told that's the market now I'm afraid and if you don't like it that's just tough, well a lot of drivers retired early or left for other jobs.
This lead to under cutting of freight rates which made wage increases impossible, this lead to major mergers and smaller companies going out of business.
And by the way this wasnt just a UK issue it was happening in all the major western EU countries too.

To trace a family members wages in 1999 he was paid £500 take home per week, in 2009 that dropped to £460 per week take home and in 2018 it raise to £550 per week.
So in reality in 20 years the driver had a pay rise of £50 per week, now add on 2% interest and realistically its not much of an increase is it, and that was a decent wage (near top end) for a driver who under took general haulage spending 4-5 nights away from home per week.

The EU played its hand by forcing the UK to adopt the driver CPC which lead to the loss of 11,000 drivers across the country many experienced old hands , this mandatory certification costs the driver out of their own pocket and even though they have to legally note it down as work they often will not be paid to do the course, those who do do the course and the company pays for it often the company doesn't pay the driver to attend.

On top of that when the UK wanted to introduce the UK Levy where non UK Commercial vehicles pay £12 per day to use the road the EU challenged this saying it was unfair to non UK transport companies.

Is it fair that a UK truck has to pay road tax in Germany, France, Netherland, Belgium, Spain, Italy, Luxembourg? so why is it ok for them to charge us and we not charge them?

Can you see why the UK operator was a bit miffed ?

http://transportoperator.co.uk/2016/05/04/rha-brussels-hgv-levy-challenge-nonsense/

The EU also stepped in to dissuade the UK (and this is mostly the fault of the UK) to enforce cabotage, which required non UK HGVs to do 3 moves and out, what we saw was foreign trucks being sent over for months doing domestic works at much cheaper rates and the UK haulier couldn't do anything about it, yet if the UK truck did this in Germany or France or some other countries it would end up in a massive fine.

So again you can see why UK companies were miffed to the back teeth.

But this isn't entirely about the EU this is about a global shortage of just about everything and everyone.


Here in Denmark and in Sweden factories like Volvo has come to a standstill..lack of components.

Volvo supply chain USA is also suffering the same issues, the Mexico plant has been closed down and re opened which has meant truck deliveries are well behind (16 months) engine manufacturers in the USA have also suffered with cummings and Detroit suffering as well as other manufactures.

Right now the USA is being propped up in food from Canada, its laughable that Iowa the potato capital of North America is importing potato's from Manitoba and Alberta.
I have seen a massive influx of grains and cereals to the USA much more than 2019 or 2020!
The best thing that happened to Canada that meant we can help out the USA is China embargoed Canola, Peas and Pork now its being diverted to the USA to help keep their food chain going.

How many people in western democracies are able to grow their own food?

Quite a few as it goes, the USA has substantial agricultural power as does Canada, Australia, and New Zealand these are export nations and able to feed their own population to a degree, as I explained earlier the USA is short in some food areas right now.

Countries like the UK are unable to produce anywhere near enough to feed the population and is a net importer of food, in 1984 the UK produced enough to feed the population for 302 days of the year, the balance tipped and it declined substantially.
Since 2004 its less than 230 days, and with the population increase that will only get lower and lower as we use more and more farm land to build houses. (currently going on in my own home town)

There are hiddne shortages over here, too, Catfish, due to broken supply lines. The fiasco in the suez Channel, the problems in that one big Chinese mega harbour and Corona quarantines count for that. Mainly it is still about supplies needed in the producing industry. It gets felt my riasing prices, longer times you have to wait for something or someone, and products unavialable (PS5 as an exmaple, or cars delivered without certain computer-run features and just one smart key because of chip shortages). Myself I am waiting since 10 weeks for an electricion to show up to repair a wall mont, and he will not come before another 4 weeks. Here, another factor weighs in: demographics, and general shortages in qualified craftsman.

I placed a new test order for Ubiquinol from the UK. Lets see whether it runs better early this year. Back then the order stalled completely and the involved company said they retire from continental business completely. I hope it works, saves me an awful lot of money even with now increased custoimes and shipping. Shipping time is not so much a concern, as long as it finally arrives they can even take several weeks, if they want. German prices: 60x 200mg Ubiquinol 70-90 Euros. UK price if you check carefull and look out for good offers: 365x 200mg 75 Euros including VATS, plus customs. It does not compare.

Shortages are affecting me here in Canada as well, my fridge died in November 2020 I had to buy a new one, because of covid and the slow down it arrived in February 2021, many others were waiting until June and July.

[3catcircus]

In all honesty here Catfish I have never been against foreign labor working in the UK, like many nations the UK is built on foreigners. (it wasn't this that prompted me to vote leave either and yes I stand by my vote)

A big issue I have is a HGV driver must under go testing and re training every 5 years, yet is considered unskilled labor even though if I went an got a job driving a 360 on a building site I'm classified as skilled labor, this needs to change, HGV driving is a skill set in its own right and need to be recognized as such.

My biggest issues surrounding immigration is just how quickly it really did get out of hand and it couldn't be managed because we had to have an open border as part of the EU agreement.
I worked with a lot of Romanian, Polish, Bulgarian drivers employed many of them too and they were fantastic guys to work with.
Even they could see the affect the open border policies were having on their own countries, one of the drivers I worked with Marius went home to his own village which before joining had a population of over 10,000 people had only 2,500 people in it.
Lets not forget history here with the mass exodus and brain drain from East Germany in the 50's and 60's its the entire reason they built the Berlin wall to stop it.

They need to do what the USA Australia New Zealand and Canada do and that targeted immigration, This is the first time I have ever seen Truck drivers enter the list of in demand occupations in the USA, and they are giving priority to that group and I think the UK should do the same with a caveat which states you have to prove that you have previously worked in the UK for a UK company in order to get a visa (in this instance)
Going forward the visa supply should be as the need is required on a case by case basis like it is in the other countries mentioned.

Those countries rather than getting all the benefits of Europe and lets be truthful there are many benefits being in Europe ended up suffering because their own people got up and left, this clearly didn't help them countries.

When you look at what took place between 2004 and 2020 an increase of close to 10 million in the population that is un sustainable in the long term.
The UK infrastructure and housing just could not keep up, in London & South East they need to build close to 240,000 new homes per year to keep pace and right now they are managing only 100,000 per year.
That makes it almost impossible for young people to even get on the housing ladder.

Yes I'm lucky I own my own home in the UK outright and yes I have a second home in Canada.
My 3 bedroom bungalow in the UK is valued at £425,000 in reality a first time buyer has next to no hope of even being able to afford paying that market price. (and yes I am very lucky I do not deny that at all)

I also take issue with my own industry here as well and hold them predominantly to blame for the current issues, which is no fault of the EU (but they do have some fault to bare) in this respect and here's why.

When the first groups of migrants came over mainly from Poland haulage companies saw a big opportunity to exploit the new labor coming in.
Knowing that the UK £ was much better than the other currencies in Europe the companies basically started underpaying drivers.
If we look at it and what happened using this hypothetical (but near reality) scenario if Gregorz came in the door with a class 1 license he was getting £100 a day to do the same job as me and I was on £130 per day clearly no brainer you don't want me working for you I cost too much money.

Quickly other companies cottoned on and reduced the wages, the British driver was told that's the market now I'm afraid and if you don't like it that's just tough, well a lot of drivers retired early or left for other jobs.
This lead to under cutting of freight rates which made wage increases impossible, this lead to major mergers and smaller companies going out of business.
And by the way this wasnt just a UK issue it was happening in all the major western EU countries too.

To trace a family members wages in 1999 he was paid £500 take home per week, in 2009 that dropped to £460 per week take home and in 2018 it raise to £550 per week.
So in reality in 20 years the driver had a pay rise of £50 per week, now add on 2% interest and realistically its not much of an increase is it, and that was a decent wage (near top end) for a driver who under took general haulage spending 4-5 nights away from home per week.

The EU played its hand by forcing the UK to adopt the driver CPC which lead to the loss of 11,000 drivers across the country many experienced old hands , this mandatory certification costs the driver out of their own pocket and even though they have to legally note it down as work they often will not be paid to do the course, those who do do the course and the company pays for it often the company doesn't pay the driver to attend.

On top of that when the UK wanted to introduce the UK Levy where non UK Commercial vehicles pay £12 per day to use the road the EU challenged this saying it was unfair to non UK transport companies.

Is it fair that a UK truck has to pay road tax in Germany, France, Netherland, Belgium, Spain, Italy, Luxembourg? so why is it ok for them to charge us and we not charge them?

Can you see why the UK operator was a bit miffed ?

http://transportoperator.co.uk/2016/05/04/rha-brussels-hgv-levy-challenge-nonsense/

The EU also stepped in to dissuade the UK (and this is mostly the fault of the UK) to enforce cabotage, which required non UK HGVs to do 3 moves and out, what we saw was foreign trucks being sent over for months doing domestic works at much cheaper rates and the UK haulier couldn't do anything about it, yet if the UK truck did this in Germany or France or some other countries it would end up in a massive fine.

So again you can see why UK companies were miffed to the back teeth.

But this isn't entirely about the EU this is about a global shortage of just about everything and everyone.



Volvo supply chain USA is also suffering the same issues, the Mexico plant has been closed down and re opened which has meant truck deliveries are well behind (16 months) engine manufacturers in the USA have also suffered with cummings and Detroit suffering as well as other manufactures.

Right now the USA is being propped up in food from Canada, its laughable that Iowa the potato capital of North America is importing potato's from Manitoba and Alberta.
I have seen a massive influx of grains and cereals to the USA much more than 2019 or 2020!
The best thing that happened to Canada that meant we can help out the USA is China embargoed Canola, Peas and Pork now its being diverted to the USA to help keep their food chain going.



Quite a few as it goes, the USA has substantial agricultural power as does Canada, Australia, and New Zealand these are export nations and able to feed their own population to a degree, as I explained earlier the USA is short in some food areas right now.

Countries like the UK are unable to produce anywhere near enough to feed the population and is a net importer of food, in 1984 the UK produced enough to feed the population for 302 days of the year, the balance tipped and it declined substantially.
Since 2004 its less than 230 days, and with the population increase that will only get lower and lower as we use more and more farm land to build houses. (currently going on in my own home town)



Shortages are affecting me here in Canada as well, my fridge died in November 2020 I had to buy a new one, because of covid and the slow down it arrived in February 2021, many others were waiting until June and July.


My question about growing food was on an individual basis, rather than on a mass scale. That is - can the average 30-yr old suburbanite or 50-yr old city dweller figure out how to grow enough food to survive, preserve for the winter, or slaughter their own meat in the face of an extended shortage situation that could turn into an extended lack of civilization situation? Likely not - many people don't even know that pork was once a pig - they just see already butchered packages of meat in a store.

As covid lockdowns continue, shortages may escalate. At some point, some natural event (Hurricane Ida here in the US, for example) will knock out electricity for an extended period of time, or shut down some essential industry that supplies the rest of a region, country, or the world. That then further exacerbates shortages down the line. I don't know how long it'll actually take to recover from that type of cascading failure.

The question is when do things like shortages expand into full-blown societal breakdown? Do we need a breakdown to get western nations off of the "order it from Amazon, if it breaks we'll get another one" built-in obsolescence cheap Chinese production consumerism?

How do you increase real wages of average people, spur growth in production to end shortages, and stop the throw-away model that western society is in right now?

As to housing costs and wages - that seems to be a significant issue in every Western democracy. People have continued seeking more and more education in the hopes of increasing their earning potential. In countries where higher education is "free," it's at the expense of the taxpayer. In a place like the US, the phenomenon of "federal loans" means that costs will rise to meet what they can get from the person incurring the loan. The result, in either case, is a larger percentage of people staying in school far longer, resulting in incurring a larger initial debt or reducing their wage-earning years. I can't speak to other countries, but here in the US, you could graduate from a high school in any state and be ready to enter an apprenticeship, find a blue-collar job making a living wage, or go to college with the expectation of having an academic career or graduating with marketable additional skills. You could, up until the probably 1980s, earn a living wage and raise a family on just a high school diploma and a single earner. Now? Colleges and trade schools have to teach remedial math and english before they can teach job skills or a course of academic study. We have people with college degrees in worthless courses of study who can't get a job. We have two-income families (each earning a high 5-figure or low 6-figure salary) living paycheck to paycheck.

[Kapitan]

My question about growing food was on an individual basis, rather than on a mass scale. That is - can the average 30-yr old suburbanite or 50-yr old city dweller figure out how to grow enough food to survive, preserve for the winter, or slaughter their own meat in the face of an extended shortage situation that could turn into an extended lack of civilization situation? Likely not - many people don't even know that pork was once a pig - they just see already butchered packages of meat in a store.

To be honest being a "city boy" ive been know to kill the odd cactus so I don't give much hope of me growing food stuffs, id bet it would be the same for most people.

I have been in supermarkets where moms and dads have said to kids do you know where milk comes from? yeah mommy from a carton in tesco so again not much hope.

As covid lockdowns continue, shortages may escalate. At some point, some natural event (Hurricane Ida here in the US, for example) will knock out electricity for an extended period of time, or shut down some essential industry that supplies the rest of a region, country, or the world. That then further exacerbates shortages down the line. I don't know how long it'll actually take to recover from that type of cascading failure.

On the maritime scale were looking at being back to normal provided nothing else happens by around late Q1 2022 maybe Q2 2022 that gives you an idea of how out of sync we are, thats important as 90% of world trade is done via sea, and the majority of food stuffs is shipped by sea.
Note this is in a perfect situation IE no more lock downs, no natural disasters and no covid.

The question is when do things like shortages expand into full-blown societal breakdown? Do we need a breakdown to get western nations off of the "order it from Amazon, if it breaks we'll get another one" built-in obsolescence cheap Chinese production consumerism?

Amazons core distribution is based on transport road and air predominantly, with a limited amount via sea, so if they are all out of sync you can bet even the mighty Amazon will (and is) suffering.

Naturally it is a scale of economics, its cheaper to import products from China because labor is so cheap so western economies cant compete product for product.
In Canada its cheaper to buy saudi oil and ship it to Vancouver than it is to get it out of the ground in Alberta.


How do you increase real wages of average people, spur growth in production to end shortages, and stop the throw-away model that western society is in right now?

You need a throw away culture in order to spur growth and product development, take the early 1900's as a prime example how many times have you heard "in my day things were built to last" well that is one reason the crash of 1929 happened consumers stopped buying because they had all they wanted.
Products went unsold because the consumer simply said well i have one of these it works I don't need another.
With that mindset we would all still be driving model T fords and using a washer and dryer inherited from our grand parents, the throw away culture has led to growth and spending in a domestic economy.
Having the latest gadget has become all the rage take I phone for example every so often a new phone and they stop supporting the old ones, then they go on big marketing campaigns and if you haven't got the latest gadget your stuck in the past almost vilified for it.

The western capitalist model is based on debt, it uses fractional reserve banking to create money from nothing, without the issuance of loans the banking houses couldn't create currency, when they issue a loan they create currency from nothing, hence why we have a FIAT monetary system that's not tied to a commodity. (1971 president nixon decided that one)

As to housing costs and wages - that seems to be a significant issue in every Western democracy. People have continued seeking more and more education in the hopes of increasing their earning potential. In countries where higher education is "free," it's at the expense of the taxpayer. In a place like the US, the phenomenon of "federal loans" means that costs will rise to meet what they can get from the person incurring the loan. The result, in either case, is a larger percentage of people staying in school far longer, resulting in incurring a larger initial debt or reducing their wage-earning years. I can't speak to other countries, but here in the US, you could graduate from a high school in any state and be ready to enter an apprenticeship, find a blue-collar job making a living wage, or go to college with the expectation of having an academic career or graduating with marketable additional skills. You could, up until the probably 1980s, earn a living wage and raise a family on just a high school diploma and a single earner. Now? Colleges and trade schools have to teach remedial math and english before they can teach job skills or a course of academic study. We have people with college degrees in worthless courses of study who can't get a job. We have two-income families (each earning a high 5-figure or low 6-figure salary) living paycheck to paycheck.

I agree with your statement here, I think the swiss have it about right they cap the number of people doing degrees and further education to 20% of the graduating year.
This means you have to be very good at all your subjects to be considered for a place in a swiss university and also critically the majority of places are for swiss citizens only.

After all the more degrees you give out the less value a degree has, in many western countries now you can get a degree in just about anything.
Brighton UK university was offering a degree in surfing I do believe, I mean what exactly will a surfing degree get you?
And if your having to go back and do remedial math's and English before doing a degree course or having to do it alongside a degree then realistically isn't that saying something about your lower education system?

The degree I did was meant for my profession, its actually very niche so its tailored to transport logistics and supply chain.
I don't have the best grades from high school, the only reason I was able to even do the degree was because I have time in service in the profession which qualified me.

Two income families earning the average UK wage £25,000 per year each will be saving for atleast 12-15 years just for a deposit and likely they would have had to live with their parents before striking out, anyone who was trying to do that renting has very little chance.

Government says that 2% inflation is healthy in reality if you have 2% inflation per year and wage stagnation year on year you loose 2% of your purchasing power as a consumer, so is it healthy of course not.

I have to say though those who choose to do university education should pay for it, it should not be subsidized by the tax payer.
Yes the debt is like a millstone around your neck for years but why should someone who has little hope of getting into a university thus likely to earn a lower wage for life have to subsidies those that do go to university and likely go on to be earning more than the average wage.

I also think the individual has to take some responsibility as well, many of my generation (I think I'm a millennial 1988) seem to think it is there right to free education, housing, jobs etc well they need to understand its not a right its a privilege.
Many of my old school friends went to university got degrees and masters came out and because they couldn't get a job in the field they studied just didn't work citing its not the job I want or qualified for.

I have done jobs I never wanted to do because the money was more important than anything else, its only now I am doing the further education.
The key point here is I am doing it now because I can pay for it without incurring the massive debt.

In reality the friends that I had that went to University became detached from reality, I cant have that car because it doesn't fit my status, or I can only live in this area and my house has to be £500,000 or more and stuff like that.
My Mrs was of that same mind, when we got approved for a house here in Canada the bank said yep your good to $475,000 my eyes popped in shock, but she was ready to go by that house for $475,000.
It was only when she realized that we would have very little hope of paying it all back before we died that she came onto my wave length, We don't live in the city where a shoe box costs half a million, but what we do have is 3 lots and a 4 bedroom house at $175,000 and a mortgage that's affordable.
The house I have if it was in Winnipeg would be close to a million, so yes we made sacrifices.

I guess I came at it from a different approach I did what was needed to be done, I saved up, lived where I needed to live even if I didn't like it and then worked my way up to where I am now.

Yes I have debt, I do have a mortgage, I do have a line of credit and I do have a vehicle loan, however my income and out going balance up and I still make enough to save money.

The entire system needs a re think and not just in the UK Canada or the USA but globally, if I can figure this out and make it work then why cant no one else?

[3catcircus]

To be honest being a "city boy" ive been know to kill the odd cactus so I don't give much hope of me growing food stuffs, id bet it would be the same for most people.

I have been in supermarkets where moms and dads have said to kids do you know where milk comes from? yeah mommy from a carton in tesco so again not much hope.



On the maritime scale were looking at being back to normal provided nothing else happens by around late Q1 2022 maybe Q2 2022 that gives you an idea of how out of sync we are, thats important as 90% of world trade is done via sea, and the majority of food stuffs is shipped by sea.
Note this is in a perfect situation IE no more lock downs, no natural disasters and no covid.



Amazons core distribution is based on transport road and air predominantly, with a limited amount via sea, so if they are all out of sync you can bet even the mighty Amazon will (and is) suffering.

Naturally it is a scale of economics, its cheaper to import products from China because labor is so cheap so western economies cant compete product for product.
In Canada its cheaper to buy saudi oil and ship it to Vancouver than it is to get it out of the ground in Alberta.



You need a throw away culture in order to spur growth and product development, take the early 1900's as a prime example how many times have you heard "in my day things were built to last" well that is one reason the crash of 1929 happened consumers stopped buying because they had all they wanted.
Products went unsold because the consumer simply said well i have one of these it works I don't need another.
With that mindset we would all still be driving model T fords and using a washer and dryer inherited from our grand parents, the throw away culture has led to growth and spending in a domestic economy.
Having the latest gadget has become all the rage take I phone for example every so often a new phone and they stop supporting the old ones, then they go on big marketing campaigns and if you haven't got the latest gadget your stuck in the past almost vilified for it.

The western capitalist model is based on debt, it uses fractional reserve banking to create money from nothing, without the issuance of loans the banking houses couldn't create currency, when they issue a loan they create currency from nothing, hence why we have a FIAT monetary system that's not tied to a commodity. (1971 president nixon decided that one)



I agree with your statement here, I think the swiss have it about right they cap the number of people doing degrees and further education to 20% of the graduating year.
This means you have to be very good at all your subjects to be considered for a place in a swiss university and also critically the majority of places are for swiss citizens only.

After all the more degrees you give out the less value a degree has, in many western countries now you can get a degree in just about anything.
Brighton UK university was offering a degree in surfing I do believe, I mean what exactly will a surfing degree get you?
And if your having to go back and do remedial math's and English before doing a degree course or having to do it alongside a degree then realistically isn't that saying something about your lower education system?

The degree I did was meant for my profession, its actually very niche so its tailored to transport logistics and supply chain.
I don't have the best grades from high school, the only reason I was able to even do the degree was because I have time in service in the profession which qualified me.

Two income families earning the average UK wage £25,000 per year each will be saving for atleast 12-15 years just for a deposit and likely they would have had to live with their parents before striking out, anyone who was trying to do that renting has very little chance.

Government says that 2% inflation is healthy in reality if you have 2% inflation per year and wage stagnation year on year you loose 2% of your purchasing power as a consumer, so is it healthy of course not.

I have to say though those who choose to do university education should pay for it, it should not be subsidized by the tax payer.
Yes the debt is like a millstone around your neck for years but why should someone who has little hope of getting into a university thus likely to earn a lower wage for life have to subsidies those that do go to university and likely go on to be earning more than the average wage.

I also think the individual has to take some responsibility as well, many of my generation (I think I'm a millennial 1988) seem to think it is there right to free education, housing, jobs etc well they need to understand its not a right its a privilege.
Many of my old school friends went to university got degrees and masters came out and because they couldn't get a job in the field they studied just didn't work citing its not the job I want or qualified for.

I have done jobs I never wanted to do because the money was more important than anything else, its only now I am doing the further education.
The key point here is I am doing it now because I can pay for it without incurring the massive debt.

In reality the friends that I had that went to University became detached from reality, I cant have that car because it doesn't fit my status, or I can only live in this area and my house has to be £500,000 or more and stuff like that.
My Mrs was of that same mind, when we got approved for a house here in Canada the bank said yep your good to $475,000 my eyes popped in shock, but she was ready to go by that house for $475,000.
It was only when she realized that we would have very little hope of paying it all back before we died that she came onto my wave length, We don't live in the city where a shoe box costs half a million, but what we do have is 3 lots and a 4 bedroom house at $175,000 and a mortgage that's affordable.
The house I have if it was in Winnipeg would be close to a million, so yes we made sacrifices.

I guess I came at it from a different approach I did what was needed to be done, I saved up, lived where I needed to live even if I didn't like it and then worked my way up to where I am now.

Yes I have debt, I do have a mortgage, I do have a line of credit and I do have a vehicle loan, however my income and out going balance up and I still make enough to save money.

The entire system needs a re think and not just in the UK Canada or the USA but globally, if I can figure this out and make it work then why cant no one else?

I think that the entire western economic model is irretrievably broken - going back to when we came off the gold standard. Not by itself, but when you have fractional reserve banking with nothing to peg real value against, it's a problem.

Now, there is no real definition of what constitutes a living wage in any given country since it's all one currency pegged to another. Best we can do is pegging it to the value of a barrel of oil. And we saw how that value went into the negative region last year "We'll pay you to take a barrel of this oil." That oil has a real value that is obviously out of synch with it's speculated price.

And that is likely also part of the problem - market speculation that has nothing to do with the actual value of commodities or company stocks - but how you can manipulate things based upon temporary changes in reserve currency exchange rates.

Fully agree that entitlement is a problem. I did ok in high school - good grades with college scholarships offered (but not completely paid for). High school was not a big challenge. I knew that if went right into college, Is probably not do well. So I joined the navy, became a nuclear trained janitor, got out, completed a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering in 3.5 years instead of the normal 5, and have been employed ever since. I make a very good salary. My wife, with 20+ years as a school teacher, makes a very good salary.

Combined, we are considered in the upper middle class, strictly from a wage-earning standpoint. But, we bought our first house in 2005 at the height of the market before the 2008 crash. We had to pay, between having to put a new roof and septic and boiler, and the difference in sale price vs mortgage balance, close to $75,000 when we sold and moved to a townhouse in a town with better schools for our kids. We also live in a state that has income tax and with very high property taxes.

Our "real" buying power is a fraction of what it could be. Someone living in a lower cost of living state, making our salary, would likely be able to afford a palatial estate. When we were looking at buying our new house, we were approved for a mortgage that was insane, but the price point for a single family home in that office range only offered homes in need of significant work or that were smaller than we needed. We ended up deciding on a townhome because of this. The mortgage company was like "You're only spendi g $300k but we approved you go to $500k. Why not get more house?" We explained that our original plans were to throw $50k as a down payment to lower the mortgage and buy more house since we could finance the entire loan since it was a VA loan, but we couldn't due to the costs to get out of our old home - so anything in a single family that was still at or below $500k wasn't worth the asking price. They looked at us like we were crazy for not taking on more debt than we were comfortable with. Spend $3000/month on a mortgage? No thanks.

People see the price, and forget that you're still having to pay for property taxes and insurance, so a base monthly mortgage payment is possibly double what you think it will be. There are people who are mortgaged to the hilt to have a giant home and an expensive car - but they have nothing in the home and are eating instant ramen...

[Kapitan]

Fully agree with your sentiments, to me its about show and keeping up with the Jones.

I have nice things because I'm lucky an accident of birth if you will, i had a very good job in the UK paying a lot of money so i could afford the nice cars others my age could not.
But that was hard work doing at least 80-90 hours a week, i find a lot of people these days want to be doing 35 hours a week and earning a million a month.

A close friend of mine said that I had it easy and that her job was stressful, she worked 32 hours a week, so when I chirped up and said what do you do the rest of the week she was like well I don't.

We had a little experiment back in March 2018 i said to her you can come work with me for two weeks and she did for 3 days before saying its too much, after that she filly understood why I earnt so much, at the end of day 3 I was already on 42-45 hours worth and this was just my middle of the week.

Point is there's a living wage and a wage, living wage should be paid to the people as a matter of course.
Having done a very high paced job I can understand why bankers and the likes get large bonuses and perks its very simple they are pulling 20 hour days a lot of the time so they sacrifice a lot to make a wage and rightfully should be paid accordingly for the skill set.

(I don't condone their greed though when it comes to stuff like market crashes)

[Catfish]

Seems there is a general shortage of workers, lots of news in the german tv channels yesterday.
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-lincolnshire-58410363

This was also in the news yesterday, water purification in England cut to make up for lack of disinfectants, supply chain failure
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2021/sep/07/government-ease-sewage-discharge-rules-amid-chemical-shortage

https://www.thenational.scot/news/19567722.brexit-sewage-can-dumped-rivers-sea-chemical-shortage/

And empty shelves..

https://metro.co.uk/2021/09/03/food-shortages-uk-full-list-of-shops-hit-by-delivery-issues-15202901/

https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/uk-employers-face-worst-shortage-job-candidates-record-rec-2021-09-09/

Not good news. I take it, while it is not the only reason, brexit does have an impact.

EU workers are still denied to work in the UK. Some will not even want to come back after brexit and this special experience, especially when loans are so low, and while they have to apply for a visum now. And to be honest England is not exactly making it easy getting working visa even now, certainly due to brexit and national politics behind it.

So train UK citizens to make up for losses of whatever cause of course, but 1. takes a lot of time and 2. some will not want to do the work foreigners did before.
Same here of course. I take it the EU can compensate and balance for a while, but in the end brexit and driver shortage will also have an impact here.

And if this all was not enough yet, gas prices are soaring in whole Europe with gas reserves being already tapped early in september. The winter is said to become brutal
https://electroverse.net/uk-fires-up-coal-power-plant-as-european-gas-shortage-worsens/

the UK is thinking about firing up coal plants; gas prices never were that high in Germany. Maybe North Stream II was not the badest of ideas.

Now what could be done against all this in a short time.. preventing bad decisions in the future, or at least thinking beforehand, will not help now.


B.t.w. where are Farage and Cummings? :03:

Nigel does a tv show with the usual right wing hate paroles
"GB News is positioning itself quite openly as a nationalist television channel that propagates the war of cultures and tries to score points with topics such as illegal immigration and transgender lobbyism. So that's why Nigel Farage. He should fix it."
https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=de&tl=en&u=https://www.sueddeutsche.de/politik/nigel-farrage-tv-sendung-rechtspopulisten-1.5365184

Cummings is miffed about he had to leave before he could make Johnson lave
"Speaking of Brexit, Cummings said no one could know if it was a good idea to leave the EU (https://www-faz-net.translate.goog/aktuell/politik/thema/europaeische-union?_x_tr_sl=de&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=de&_x_tr_pto=ajax,elem) . "I think anyone who claims to be certain about it has a screw loose," said the ex-advisor.
https://www.faz.net/aktuell/politik/ausland/cummings-johnson-sollte-nie-grossbritannien-regieren-17446978.html

[Kapitan]

Seems there is a general shortage of workers, lots of news in the german tv channels yesterday.
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-lincolnshire-58410363

This was also in the news yesterday, water purification in England cut to make up for lack of disinfectants, supply chain failure
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2021/sep/07/government-ease-sewage-discharge-rules-amid-chemical-shortage

https://www.thenational.scot/news/19567722.brexit-sewage-can-dumped-rivers-sea-chemical-shortage/

And empty shelves..

https://metro.co.uk/2021/09/03/food-shortages-uk-full-list-of-shops-hit-by-delivery-issues-15202901/

https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/uk-employers-face-worst-shortage-job-candidates-record-rec-2021-09-09/

Not good news. I take it, while it is not the only reason, brexit does have an impact.

EU workers are still denied to work in the UK. Some will not even want to come back after brexit and this special experience, especially when loans are so low, and while they have to apply for a visum now. And to be honest England is not exactly making it easy getting working visa even now, certainly due to brexit and national politics behind it.

So train UK citizens to make up for losses of whatever cause of course, but 1. takes a lot of time and 2. some will not want to do the work foreigners did before.
Same here of course. I take it the EU can compensate and balance for a while, but in the end brexit and driver shortage will also have an impact here.

Now what could be done against this in a short time..

I do agree we need to do something in the short term, back in the 1980's the government used to fund class 1 licenses and that overcame a lot of issues in the transport industry back then, something similar could be applied again.
That funding proved its weight in gold because many who gained their class 1 on that scheme still drive today and haven't been out of work since thus a net contribution based from government subsidy.

Right now we have a 5.6% unemployment rate, if there's so many jobs why is the unemployment rate so high? well yes many people don't want to do the jobs migrants have done, but you know what why should I or You the tax payer subsidize them because they don't want to work?
If there are jobs out there even as a stop gap they should be applying oddly its a condition on their unemployment benefit so I'm told, yes its harsh and yes its unpopular but I do think its high time to get the ones who are freeloading off the system into the work place.

As Humphry Appleby said oddly I find him quite correct on how to deal with unemployment :haha: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nNsJRfaRdfc

Brexit has had an impact I don't deny that, but again a lot of our food comes in via container (even from the EU), either deep sea or short sea.
With a massive global log jam of containers and ships being out of position it has created havoc in the just in time method not just in the UK as noted earlier its here in Canada and the USA as well, I also have colleges in Denmark, Germany, Turkey, Poland, Estonia all reporting shortages of food and drivers so yes its affecting the EU as well as the UK.

A lot of our issues and just like the EU have done, we downsized our warehousing in the 1990's thus were unable to stockpile because we became so heavily reliant on the just in time method, most goods spend just hours in a warehouse not days or weeks like they did back in the 1990's.
Warehousing is a severe problem note the lack of not just in the UK but many other countries using the JIT method.

The UK is also not big on rail freight and for good reason, we don't have the capacity on the rail network to ship in the volumes other EU countries do, our network is set up for passenger transport not goods, in fact rail accounts for only 8% of goods moved in the UK, on comparison Germany and France do much better in this field than us.

The chemical (Liquid Naphthalene UN1993) they use in water purification comes in to Fawley Southampton at Nalco via ocean going tanker (post panamax and VLCC) This product doesn't come from the EU it comes from Canada, it is railed around the country and taken by road or onwards by sea in coasters, so not a brexit issue here more of a tanker problem caused by covid, don't forget a lot of crews were trapped onboard their ships during 2020 some still are!

In the short to medium term we should open up a points bases immigration system like Canada USA Australia uses and allow people based on what we need to come to work in the UK, and we should offer a permanent resident system so after 2 years you can claim permanent resident status giving them leave to remain indefinitely (those who already have more than 2 years and can prove it should get it automatically without doing another 2 years).

To get a visa to go to Canada while we were in the EU was challenging for normal people, same with the USA and Australia, a lot of younger people have now seen that because were out of the EU it has become easier.
The biggest concern for the USA was anyone and everyone could go to the UK change passports and get into the USA which is why they had so many restrictions even though the UK was on the visa wavier program.

Even I had nightmares getting the green card having to prove I was born in the UK while many who held a UK passport born outside the UK were denied, so in one respect it has freed up travel to these countries (not that it was too difficult in the first place mind).

Overall we do need to sort out the unemployed in the UK at 5.6% according to the figures well there shouldn't be a shortage in a lot of industries.
I had to do jobs i hated why should the people who don't want to work be any different.
Unfortunately the welfare culture in the UK has got to the point of if i go to work I get less money I'm better off on state handouts.

Naturally there are genuine people out there who cannot work for various reasons and its those I feel sorry for, because its those who actually need the help and unfortunately its those who want to simply sit and sponge of the state that really screw it up for the genuine ones.

[Catfish]

"The hard reality of Brexit is hitting Britain. It's costing everyone but Boris Johnson"

" [...] While food shortages have been common in many countries over the course of the pandemic, Brown believes that one issue unique to the UK is making life extra painful: Brexit.

[...]
First, a lack of truck drivers, who take fresh items like cauliflowers to and from freezing facilities, meant that the ESG cooperative at one stage had to throw away a week's worth of production, at an estimated cost of £1 million ($1.4 million).
Second, Brown says that many of the seasonal workers, who would come from countries like Romania and Bulgaria for a few months to harvest vegetables, are now in short supply.

It seems that the consequences of Brexit are finally being felt up and down the UK. And far from the sunlit uplands promised by members of Prime Minister Boris Johnson's government, a shortage of European workers in these vital areas means financial losses for businesses and empty shelves as the UK hurtles towards Christmas.

[...]
The current driver shortage is estimated to be between 90,000 to 120,000, according to a spokesperson for Logistics UK. While Brexit is not entirely to blame, the fact that the UK no longer has easy access to European drivers has created a headache for the industry.

The government, critics say, failed to adequately prepare for the inevitable consequences of Brexit and mitigate its initial impact.

Despite this, Brexit's fallout is not being used by Johnson's political opponents, who are instead whacking him over domestic issues. But why?

"The problem with these sorts of stories is they happen incrementally," says Rob Ford, professor of politics at the University of Manchester.

"One of the very tragic things about these stories is that in order for the public to really pay attention to them, something really dramatic has to happen. Unfortunately, that might be an overworked lorry driver crashing into a family car or children falling ill through malnourishment."

Until that point, Johnson can largely deflect the blame for these problems onto the pandemic. Ford notes this goes down well with his base of "Leave" voters, many of whom are sick of being told that Brexit was a disaster, and often willing to believe other explanations.

But Brexit really is starting to bite. It was never going to be the case that the UK would immediately fall apart. But little by little, many of the assurances made in 2016 and during years of negotiations are cracking."

https://edition.cnn.com/2021/09/12/business/brexit-reality-bites-in-britain-intl-gbr-cmd/index.html



"Britain no longer in top 10 for trade with Germany as Brexit bites"

"A December 2020 survey of Germany's BGA trade association showed one in five companies were reorganizing supply chains to swap out British suppliers for others in the EU.
That trend was becoming more marked, though British businesses were even worse off, said Michael Schmidt, President of the British Chamber of Commerce in Germany, making any turnaround before the end of this year unlikely.

"More and more small and medium-sized companies are ceasing to trade (in Britain) because of these (Brexit-related) hurdles," Schmidt told Reuters.
The sharp first-half decline was also driven by pull-forward effects before the new hurdles, such as customs controls, kicked in in January."


"For many small British firms, Brexit meant losing access to their most important export market... It's like shooting yourself in the foot. And this explains why German imports from Britain are in free-fall now."
He voiced hope that some of the decline might be temporary. "Companies are normally always in a good position to adapt quickly – but this needs time."


https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/exclusive-britain-no-longer-top-10-trade-with-germany-brexit-bites-2021-09-08/

[Catfish]

So no shortages frome there at least ..

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-58556453

You can't make this up :doh:
As usual the comments are the best

[Skybird]

By chance I currently watch my way through my collection of DVDs of Yes (Prime) Minister.

Timeless.

Priceless.

Simply good.

:D


The hissing, chopping sounds recently probably were the guillotine Johnson set up at Downing Street.

[Skybird]

I placed a new test order for Ubiquinol from the UK. Lets see whether it runs better early this year. Back then the order stalled completely and the involved company said they retire from continental business completely. I hope it works, saves me an awful lot of money even with now increased custoimes and shipping. Shipping time is not so much a concern, as long as it finally arrives they can even take several weeks, if they want. German prices: 60x 200mg Ubiquinol 70-90 Euros. UK price if you check carefull and look out for good offers: 365x 200mg 75 Euros including VATS, plus customs. It does not compare. :D


Has arrived today, shipping time in total around 10 days, so everything back to pre-Brexit normal. Saved me close to 300 coins. :yeah:



I just wonder how they get away with labelling it on the customs sticker as a "gift", the package obviously is form a retailer. Can i demand my money back now? A gift is a gift, I mean.

[Jimbuna]

So no shortages frome there at least ..

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-58556453

You can't make this up :doh:
As usual the comments are the best

Hopefully the electorate will hold those responsible to account.

[Kapitan]

I have never said brexit hasn't played a role it has, but not as big as some people make out.

A lot of farmers are angry because they cannot get cheap foreign temporary labor, however why do they need cheap foreign labor when we have what 4.5% unemployed ?
Yes its true a lot of Brits don't want to do the jobs they do and I do believe it has a lot to do with a very generous welfare state.
If they curtailed some of that then maybe just maybe people will go ah i kind of need a job.

A lot of scientists were put out because a lot of them were EU funded, ok that's fine but when it comes to academia indoctrinating people with EU good UK Bad I'm sorry not happening in my world (started happening in my school in the early 2000s).

There does seem to be an air of superiority in the remain camp (not everyone I stress this) but I often find I am classed as " Stupid Uneducated and don't know what I voted for"
Well I do know what I voted for infact it was one question should the UK leave of remain in the EU.
I fully understood that leaving meant leaving the common market, the free movement and every other connotation and principles of the EU.
I fully understood that the UK would suffer in the short term but freed from the shackles of the EU there was a good chance we could regain that ground (which I would speculate will be around 2028/2030 time)

With regards to shortages, no one in my industry could have predicted COVID at all no one in the EU UK or anywhere could.
On top of that the consequences of COVID causing delays in the supply chain, the Ever Given running aground for over a week.

Our schedules are very tight even a 24 hour delay can be a big problem, so add a week into that mix plus covid shut downs well it kind of speaks for itself.
With that there's the knock on effect of container shortages and out of place containers in ports.
To give you an idea were now predicting the problem in this one area wont be over until Q2 2022 as per my discussions Monday, this is if nothing else goes wrong.

Driver shortages well this one has been on going since before the EU existed, exacerbated in the 90's it wasn't even solved by EU labor coming over our growth and the JIT network out grew the ability of job creation, a bit like the population out growing housing supply.

Again i state simply blaming shortages of labor and goods on Brexit is not wholly appropriate, while a contributing factor its not entirely the big picture.

[Skybird]

Just saying that you cannot just quickly pick a job on the fields and get along. Most people simply physically are not used to the physical stress of kneeling or bowing all the time, you need to get used to that and "hardened" in your muscles and backbone. I did it once during student times, and after just a very few days (althoigh I still trained at that time) my back was so stiff and I had so sever pains that I could not bow again, I had to quit, i was almost partially paralysed.

And during the early pandemic last year enthusiastic young people went to their farmers and offered their work to him, and very many had to quit early, too, until farmers stopped hiring native Germans, saying they had to see most of them go in the first week, exhausted and in pain, and needing to pay them full wage but getting only 40% of the work done that a trained worker from the East would have acchieved in that time. These jobs not only must be mechnaically learned, but you need to build the stamina and physical toughness to endure a day. Some can do it easily, for others it is very ard. Some can never really adapt.



Its not so much heavy lifting or such things, its this monotonous movement and especially the arched, stooped and crooked back. The pain can stab you in the backbone and hips like a dagger. If you are really bad off, you can almost not move for days.

[Catfish]

"Britain Signals Intent to Revert to the Imperial System"

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/17/world/europe/imperial-measurements-pounds-ounces-return.html

or here

https://www.straitstimes.com/world/europe/britain-signals-intent-to-revert-to-old-imperial-system-of-pounds-and-ounces

"Since Britain formally split from the EU on Jan 1, after nearly 50 years of membership, Prime Minister Boris Johnson has touted his vision of a "Global Britain" that would flourish without being shackled by rules imposed by the 27-member bloc.

British officials have pointed to developments, such as changing the colour of British passports from the EU's burgundy to Britain's traditional blue, which was dropped in 1988, as bold and triumphant symbols of the country's new freedom."

Nevertheless, Mr Frost said on Thursday that the move towards the imperial system would be part of the broader changes Britain was making to "capitalise on new Brexit freedoms".

Bold, triumphant inching forward to freedom.
I sometimes thought there may be some really queer lifeforms on this planet. Now i know.

[August]

It gets back, however, to entrepreneurialship. In the US, the average base annual pay for a truck driver is around $45,000. For an owner-operator, the average is around 3x that.

Which might seem like a lot but the cost of a new tractor trailer cab is about $125-150 grand and that's not counting insurance and all the other related costs. It should probably more like x4 or x5.

[Kapitan]

"Britain Signals Intent to Revert to the Imperial System"

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/17/world/europe/imperial-measurements-pounds-ounces-return.html

or here

https://www.straitstimes.com/world/europe/britain-signals-intent-to-revert-to-old-imperial-system-of-pounds-and-ounces

"Since Britain formally split from the EU on Jan 1, after nearly 50 years of membership, Prime Minister Boris Johnson has touted his vision of a "Global Britain" that would flourish without being shackled by rules imposed by the 27-member bloc.

British officials have pointed to developments, such as changing the colour of British passports from the EU's burgundy to Britain's traditional blue, which was dropped in 1988, as bold and triumphant symbols of the country's new freedom."

Nevertheless, Mr Frost said on Thursday that the move towards the imperial system would be part of the broader changes Britain was making to "capitalise on new Brexit freedoms".

Bold, triumphant inching forward to freedom.
I sometimes thought there may be some really queer lifeforms on this planet. Now i know.

I did see a tweet from a person from weights and measures recently, it did state there has never been a problem with working in either imperial or metric, its just as other European nations often use metric so we followed suite.

I find this proposal just dumb to be honest.

[Kapitan]

Which might seem like a lot but the cost of a new tractor trailer cab is about $125-150 grand and that's not counting insurance and all the other related costs. It should probably more like x4 or x5.

Theres a lot of expenses in road transport some of which i didnt realise until i did my transport manager CPC which takes each cost down to fractions of pennys per KM / Mile

Owner operators beware its not that easy to maintain trucks with low paid freight, the trick is to get atleast one decent paying contract for a small company and build around it.

A lot of owner operators in the US and Canada are way to focused on RPM and not gross after all RPM doesn't pay the bills but try explaining that to them is like trying to put my head through the eye of a needle, guess thats why so many fail.

[vienna]

Its not just the UK and EU who are dealing with shortages caused by trucking and shipping deficiencies; the US is going through the same pains and it is particularly evident in the combined ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, which directly abut each other; Long Beach is the older of the two harbors, a natural harbor, while the massive LA Port is a man-made facility built on landfills and reclaimed ocean floor; the combined ports are the largest in the US and the 9th largest in the world; a very substantial percentage of the goods imported into the US or exported out pass through the ports and their impact on the US economy is massive...


At the moment, the waters directly off the ports looks like an invasion fleet has massed offshore:

Backup in port of Los Angeles affecting truck drivers ability to work; cargo delivery --

https://ktul.com/news/local/backup-in-port-of-los-angeles-affecting-truck-drivers-ability-to-work-cargo-delivery


The report notes that nearly 70 container ships are anchored offshore, waiting for open berths (a local report last night stated the number at 66 ships); keep in mind, that is just container ships; there are some 25+ other ships (tankers, etc.) also waiting for berths, so the total is nearer to 90 ships idling offshore...

In the report, you see the truckers blaming the Ports and the longshoremen ("they get paid by the hour, we don't")and the Posts management blaming the Feds; sad to say, the various factions are trying to milk the situation for their own agendas: the unions to wrangle higher pay and loosened working quotas and perks; the trucker for, also, higher wages and perks; and, the Ports management for a larger slice of the Fed funds; all of this is not at all helping the situation...

Even if the Ports were to be able to process out the cargo in a timely manner, there are other problems; merchants who are receiving the containers often have a lag time between when the containers land, are processed, are ready for pickup, and the actual time the do, indeed have the containers hauled; sometimes this is due to the merchants not having sufficient available storage space on their own properties to take the containers, so the containers are stored at the Ports, and the usual outside port storage time is about 30 days; however, that storage time is now averaging over 60 days, and. in a rising number of cases, is approaching 90 days on average; decreased sales at brick and mortar retail sites and increased mail-order sales have caused inventory backups on many items taking up valuable storage space; with no space in their own warehouses, they are letting the containers sit at the Ports; also, they are equally dealing with a shortage of drivers for their trucks, so even if they had the warehouse space, they are in heavy competition to find drivers to move the products...

Since the beginning of the Pandemic, a lot of workers have rethought their career priorities and have shifted away from jobs they once thought they were only suited for; in addition to a large number of older drivers who opted to retire during the Pandemic, a large number of drivers have found employ in other field, often with better pay and conditions, and coaxing them back into driving again will be difficult; new drivers are equally hard to find since younger workers, often armed with college degrees, are not going to be flocking to jobs that are comparatively far more arduous than careers for which they are more qualified...

Then there's this to consider: despite what the Far-Right has claimed , that the woes are caused by the unwillingness of workers to seek employment because of unemployment subsidies, the figure coming out of states that ceased those subsides show the cutoffs have had little to no effect on turning around the inability of employers to find workers; why? well, according to the latest US Bureau of Labor Statistics reports, there are some 8.4 million unemployed workers in the US, and the BoLS also reports there are some 10.6 job opening; it doesn't take a great deal of maths skills to see, if you have some 2.2 million more openings than you have workers, even if all the unemployed were working, the country would still be in a hole, jobs-wise...






<O>

[Jimbuna]

Just under half a tank full when I passed a local station this morning with only four cars on the forecourt so I filled the tank up. Passed again this afternoon and the queue was fifty plus vehicles.

[Kapitan]

Just under half a tank full when I passed a local station this morning with only four cars on the forecourt so I filled the tank up. Passed again this afternoon and the queue was fifty plus vehicles.

I Have been privy to some inside information about the fuel crisis by someone in BP.

The mass panic was due to a lot of drivers walking off the job and securing other employment.

BP have subcontracted its transport to hoyer, now this is a normal everyday move for big producers to out source transport.

BP Stations are not owned by BP they are independent franchises, and in the contract BP guarantee them delivery or they get the delivery for free if they fail.
This is something passed on to the sub contractor they are bound by the same terms, any failed deliveries incur a fine of £500 per failed delivery and they have to transport the load for free.

Hoyer massively undercut the contract in order to win it, this meant drivers wages were cut right back, to give you an idea the starting salary for a dedicated BP driver was £42,000 per year with hoyer your lucky to start at £32,000.
Now with other companies offering up £45,000+ its easy to see why people have jumped ship.

The media are to blame really, this is a localized issue with one company not all of them, Shell Texaco, Esso, Total and others report no shortages and no problems with supply or delivery...... well until the media hyped it up and everyone panic bought fuel this then swung the balance of the supply chain and resupply network out of whack.

A typical busy forecourt gets two deliveries per day totaling 64,000liters of all fuel types which is more than enough to sustain it for 24 hours without hitting into the reserves.

Sadly because of the media hype and spin put on the balance has shifted simply because people are buying in excess of what they need and the tankers cannot keep up.

[Kapitan]

Its not just the UK and EU who are dealing with shortages caused by trucking and shipping deficiencies; the US is going through the same pains and it is particularly evident in the combined ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, which directly abut each other; Long Beach is the older of the two harbors, a natural harbor, while the massive LA Port is a man-made facility built on landfills and reclaimed ocean floor; the combined ports are the largest in the US and the 9th largest in the world; a very substantial percentage of the goods imported into the US or exported out pass through the ports and their impact on the US economy is massive...


At the moment, the waters directly off the ports looks like an invasion fleet has massed offshore:

Backup in port of Los Angeles affecting truck drivers ability to work; cargo delivery --

https://ktul.com/news/local/backup-in-port-of-los-angeles-affecting-truck-drivers-ability-to-work-cargo-delivery


The report notes that nearly 70 container ships are anchored offshore, waiting for open berths (a local report last night stated the number at 66 ships); keep in mind, that is just container ships; there are some 25+ other ships (tankers, etc.) also waiting for berths, so the total is nearer to 90 ships idling offshore...

In the report, you see the truckers blaming the Ports and the longshoremen ("they get paid by the hour, we don't")and the Posts management blaming the Feds; sad to say, the various factions are trying to milk the situation for their own agendas: the unions to wrangle higher pay and loosened working quotas and perks; the trucker for, also, higher wages and perks; and, the Ports management for a larger slice of the Fed funds; all of this is not at all helping the situation...

Even if the Ports were to be able to process out the cargo in a timely manner, there are other problems; merchants who are receiving the containers often have a lag time between when the containers land, are processed, are ready for pickup, and the actual time the do, indeed have the containers hauled; sometimes this is due to the merchants not having sufficient available storage space on their own properties to take the containers, so the containers are stored at the Ports, and the usual outside port storage time is about 30 days; however, that storage time is now averaging over 60 days, and. in a rising number of cases, is approaching 90 days on average; decreased sales at brick and mortar retail sites and increased mail-order sales have caused inventory backups on many items taking up valuable storage space; with no space in their own warehouses, they are letting the containers sit at the Ports; also, they are equally dealing with a shortage of drivers for their trucks, so even if they had the warehouse space, they are in heavy competition to find drivers to move the products...

Since the beginning of the Pandemic, a lot of workers have rethought their career priorities and have shifted away from jobs they once thought they were only suited for; in addition to a large number of older drivers who opted to retire during the Pandemic, a large number of drivers have found employ in other field, often with better pay and conditions, and coaxing them back into driving again will be difficult; new drivers are equally hard to find since younger workers, often armed with college degrees, are not going to be flocking to jobs that are comparatively far more arduous than careers for which they are more qualified...

Then there's this to consider: despite what the Far-Right has claimed , that the woes are caused by the unwillingness of workers to seek employment because of unemployment subsidies, the figure coming out of states that ceased those subsides show the cutoffs have had little to no effect on turning around the inability of employers to find workers; why? well, according to the latest US Bureau of Labor Statistics reports, there are some 8.4 million unemployed workers in the US, and the BoLS also reports there are some 10.6 job opening; it doesn't take a great deal of maths skills to see, if you have some 2.2 million more openings than you have workers, even if all the unemployed were working, the country would still be in a hole, jobs-wise...






<O>

Port of long beach is a unionized workforce and my god have I had headaches with them in the past.
The reality of ships lined up waiting to get into port I can well believe, on average a containership should be able to turn around in 48 hours (even the 24,000TEU ones)
But without dock space they cant offload, and if the warehouse space almost full they end user cant receive goods either so the port becomes a holding yard which ties up the container for its reload and re shipment.

With regards to truck drivers I can see defiantly the USA and Canada have a problem with recruitment and retention, same as Europe.
This has meant a softening of immigration rules for truck drivers in both Canada and the USA.

When we talk about social security and welfare systems, quite frankly they are correct in a way, anyone on social security will not be able to afford to obtain a license, in Canada its around $8-10,000 and in the USA on average its $4-5,000, in the UK £3-4,000, no one living on welfare could afford that.

In the 1980's the UK addressed the shortages by using a government subsidy program allowing unemployed to obtain licenses with government help, many of those who took up that offer remained in the industry (some still are in it) but now these people are coming up to or are already at retirement age.

[Armistead]

Feed corn and other animal feed has doubled in price this time last year

[Kapitan]

Feed corn and other animal feed has doubled in price this time last year

Bulk commodities did take a big hit with price over the last 16-18 months Corn going from $4.25 per bushel up to $6 on its high currently trading at $5.33

with the price high it also means transport costs have to become lower, MB to AB runs were ranging in the early part of 2020 $58 per MT now there at around $45MT

Now with fuel up at its high because the oil price is high WTI $74.98 per barrel that sort of costs per MT is not sustainable and indeed causes the transport companies a loss over all.
What that means is companies diverting to other goods or not operating

[August]

Some of the projects that I bid on take months to go through the approval process but my vendors are becoming more and more reluctant to commit to prices that far in the future. Makes it tough to put together a quote that will still be profitable by the time the contract is finally awarded.

[Catfish]

The german SPIEGEL writes:

"Traffic jams at petrol stations, panic buying: the fuel crisis in the UK continues.

The nerves lay partly bare. The sticking point remains the lack of truck drivers. Fuel is available – there is a lack of drivers who bring it from the depots to the petrol pumps.

At the weekend, Prime Minister Johnson announced that he would issue 5,000 visas for foreign drivers. But in this parking lot in Warsaw, the offer does not meet with enthusiasm.

Jakub Pajka, truck driver: "No thanks, Prime Minister. I will not take this opportunity. No driver wants to move for three months just so that the British can really celebrate Christmas." The UK is estimated to be missing about 100,000 truckers. 25,000 mainly Eastern European drivers have left the UK because of the restrictions on foreign workers in the wake of Brexit. They have returned to their home countries – including Jacek Rembokowski.
Jacek Rembokowski
"There was a lot of uncertainty about how we would be treated afterwards, whether Brexit would upset the whole industry and whether drivers would continue to be welcome. I then made the decision to resign. Because of the money and because I wanted to go home again. Now I only drive in Poland."

But the fact that Brexit is supposed to be the main cause of the fuel crisis is not liked being heard in London. According to the government, the main reason is that so many driving lessons and exams have been cancelled or postponed due to the corona pandemic. Now soldiers are to help with the gasoline deliveries. This should provide relaxation in the next few days."


Also
"Because of the bottlenecks at UK petrol stations, criminals may be used to drive trucks.

"We have let prisoners and criminals work on a voluntary basis and unpaid," said Deputy Prime Minister and Justice Minister Dominic Raab of The Spectator magazine.

"Why not let them do paid work when there are bottlenecks, if there is an economic and social benefit?"

I take it while corona (and related border delays) and ageing truckdrivers are one thing internationally, brexit is the reason for UK problems being a bit 'different' in comparison.

[mapuc]

Here they are taking about the coming Christmas crisis.

Here are a part of a Danish article about this shortage problems

"
A Christmas crisis with more expensive goods can no longer be avoided

The pandemic has created bottlenecks in the world's oceans. This has led Ikea to deploy trains that can pick up goods from the Far East.

Logistics manager at Ikea Denmark Peter Langskov must choose between kitchen knives or utensils.
He can not fit both on board container ships and trucks and must therefore prioritize what is to arrive and what is to be sold out.
- The situation is the wildest I have tried. It was impossible to predict that the pandemic would hit us this way, he says.
- Right now we actually do not know when many of our goods will come home. Normally, 45 trucks with goods arrive at Ikea's department stores throughout Denmark - at the moment we are experiencing days where only 35 arrive, says the logistics manager.

Container ships are queuing up on the Pacific Ocean
The shortage of goods is due to consumers around the world turning up the purchase of furniture and consumer goods, as the closure prevented people to spend money on travel and services.
In other words, demand is at a record high.
The number of containers transported on the world's oceans has increased by about six percent compared to the level before the pandemic, explains Peter Sand, a shipping analyst at the interest group Bimco.
"Especially the Americans have taken many more goods out of the Far East than they usually do," he says.

"

Markus

[vienna]

Port of long beach is a unionized workforce and my god have I had headaches with them in the past.
The reality of ships lined up waiting to get into port I can well believe, on average a containership should be able to turn around in 48 hours (even the 24,000TEU ones)
But without dock space they cant offload, and if the warehouse space almost full they end user cant receive goods either so the port becomes a holding yard which ties up the container for its reload and re shipment.

With regards to truck drivers I can see defiantly the USA and Canada have a problem with recruitment and retention, same as Europe.
This has meant a softening of immigration rules for truck drivers in both Canada and the USA.

When we talk about social security and welfare systems, quite frankly they are correct in a way, anyone on social security will not be able to afford to obtain a license, in Canada its around $8-10,000 and in the USA on average its $4-5,000, in the UK £3-4,000, no one living on welfare could afford that.

In the 1980's the UK addressed the shortages by using a government subsidy program allowing unemployed to obtain licenses with government help, many of those who took up that offer remained in the industry (some still are in it) but now these people are coming up to or are already at retirement age.


The City of Long Beach has made available several dozens of acres of land to take in the overflow from the Port of L.A. s a means of freeing up off load space; even with that, there still isn't enough space for all that's sitting off the coast; the unions are indeed a big pain and, as expected, they are trying to take advantage of the backup to force management and/or the Port authorities to give them more than the union's contracts provide, all with no real assurance the union workers will step up the flow of cargo in return; its been a long standing situation and has just gotten worse...


An added drain on the number of big rig, long haul, driver pool is the increase in hiring by the big box chain stores and the mega online retailers for their own delivery systems; truckers who were fed up with lower pay, erratic work schedules, and other hardships of long haul and some who were affected by a decrease in some sectors of trucking caused by Covid's effects on some businesses sales, are flocking to the higher compensation, better benefits, stable work hours, and other attractions of companies like Amazon, Walmart, etc. ...






<O>

[3catcircus]

These crises were caused by *us* - you, me, and everyone else who allowed governments to get away with making terrible decisions on a variety of things - taxes/tariffs, immigration, subsidies, regulation, lockdowns, and the list goes on.

When you make it so that foreign "refugees" have an easier time getting a commercial driving licence and that are willing to take vastly lower pay, your own citizens are less likely to take up or stay in the driving career.

When you lock down entire nations based upon scientists with a losing track record of computer modeling so that you can be seen to "be doing something" to try and stop an unstoppable pandemic, while simultaneously paying people not to work, there outcome is predictably fewer employed taxpayers with less disposable income.

When Biden's press secretary makes the claim that when businesses pass tax increases on to consumers, it would be "...absurd and unfair...," proving she has no understanding of basic economics, it pretty much sums up the complete lack of competence or qualification of most government employees - that utter incompetence being what drives a nation's economic policies. The outcome will be predictable, especially since inflation has already cut the average person's buying power.

Until every modern nation eliminates the people currently running their governments and oligarchical businesses from positions of authority, we'll continue to be in a depression with shortages and rationing. We're *already* in a depression but no one is willing to admit it.

[Skybird]

FIAT money. Always drops back to its intrinsic value: zero.

Money that has no bartering value attached by the market, but by politicians, is no money, but betrayal. Counterfeit money. And the fraud now gets exposed.

Only money in kind, commodity money, uncontrolled by state and governments, is money worth to be called "money".

And central banks? Are the meaniest manifestation of the organised finance mafia.

This ride we now see beginning, will become a brutal one. Because the stage is set to make it all a perfect storm.

I am not certain that we get through in one piece. Nor am I certain that I will.

They say its all short lasting, and compensation for reduced VAT during corona, and all that. I say: be prepared to see these effects not only lasting much longer than they want to make you believe, but to worsten significantly.

Be afraid. You have reason to be.

Beware those glorified ETFs. They soon will become the driving power behind more doom to come. Or has anyone seriously believed that if there is a years-long trend of excessively buying ETFs, this does not change the rules of the game?

My biggest concern is the state and the EU/ECB. Amongst all, the state and the EU/ECB are the worst of all my enemies. Against market turbulence, I could and have prepared. Against wanted criminal misdoings and brutal tyrannic acts by the state, I am powerless. The threat is not abstract, but material, and real.


Paper is patient. Dont trust it, in no format.

[Catfish]

Germans in England received mail to drive trucks :o

https://www-faz-net.translate.goog/aktuell/wirtschaft/mehr-wirtschaft/in-grossbritannien-lebende-deutsche-mit-altem-fuehrerschein-sollen-trucks-fahren-17566346.html?_x_tr_sl=de&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=de&_x_tr_pto=nui

Well, why not.

[Catfish]

"At times it seems as if the British government is still in the middle of the Brexit campaign. Any problems are blamed on external enemies. Even calamities that were only caused or exacerbated by the exit from the EU are blamed on external powers, for example in the case of migration. It is true that there is a shortage of workers everywhere, because many EU citizens no longer want to work in Brexit Britain, but at the same time the government is busy preventing the arrival of migrants across the English Channel.

The tough interior minister, Priti Patel, has already thought about the most absurd plans to achieve this goal: one remembers her idea of ​​ using discarded oil platforms as prison islands for asylum seekers, or the proposal to use wave machines to bring boats back to France to force. Everything has been discarded, for obvious reasons. Two weeks ago, Patel came up with what she saw as the simplest solution: France should ensure that no more refugees came to the island. Whoever manages it anyway will be transported back to French waters by the British border guard. Of course, the French government has already indicated that Patel's latest plan is also a dead bullet."

https://www-freitag-de.translate.goog/autoren/der-freitag/der-mangel-als-marke?_x_tr_sl=de&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=de&_x_tr_pto=nui

A wave machine to expel immigrants from the english shore.

"In a dossier labeled Brexit Opportunities , she announced that she would throw dozens of EU regulations that still have to be complied with overboard in order to make life easier for citizens and companies.
So it should soon be allowed again to put the so-called crown stamp on beer glasses. Motorists should also receive a digital driver's license. In addition, sellers are again allowed to indicate their goods in imperial units instead of struggling with the decimal system prescribed by the EU. In the future, fruit traders will be able to sell their strawberries in ounces again - provided, of course, that strawberries can be bought at all."

Operation cocksure :doh:

[Jimbuna]

Fuel issues persist in south but 'over' elsewhere.

Petrol supplies are still not getting to London and south-east England, with more than a fifth of forecourts still dry, retailers have said.

The Petrol Retailers Association (PRA) said it hoped the Army driving tankers would help increase fuel deliveries.

But it said the "crisis is virtually at an end in Scotland, the North and Midlands".
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-58781445

[3catcircus]

FIAT money. Always drops back to its intrinsic value: zero.

Money that has no bartering value attached by the market, but by politicians, is no money, but betrayal. Counterfeit money. And the fraud now gets exposed.

Only money in kind, commodity money, uncontrolled by state and governments, is money worth to be called "money".

And central banks? Are the meaniest manifestation of the organised finance mafia.

This ride we now see beginning, will become a brutal one. Because the stage is set to make it all a perfect storm.

I am not certain that we get through in one piece. Nor am I certain that I will.

They say its all short lasting, and compensation for reduced VAT during corona, and all that. I say: be prepared to see these effects not only lasting much longer than they want to make you believe, but to worsten significantly.

Be afraid. You have reason to be.

Beware those glorified ETFs. They soon will become the driving power behind more doom to come. Or has anyone seriously believed that if there is a years-long trend of excessively buying ETFs, this does not change the rules of the game?

My biggest concern is the state and the EU/ECB. Amongst all, the state and the EU/ECB are the worst of all my enemies. Against market turbulence, I could and have prepared. Against wanted criminal misdoings and brutal tyrannic acts by the state, I am powerless. The threat is not abstract, but material, and real.


Paper is patient. Dont trust it, in no format.

Which goes back to my point - it's not the institutions - it's the people running them.

Whenever someone says "they did this" or "I'm sorry, that's the policy of this institution/company" what they really mean is "someone or someones decided that this would be how they decide to do something, enact law, run this business."

We need to stop blaming nameless, faceless organizations, and start blaming and holding accountable those who run them.

[Skybird]

A central bank was made to betray, so it is run by fraudsters. You have no point there. A centrla bank will always cheta and betray, sicne that is its key competence: FIAT currency is counterfeit money, is fraud. Always. No matter who is at the helm.



Idiots demanding that there shall be state-controlled paper-"money", and paper-"money", they form a hen-and-egg problem now. It now does not matter who was first.

[Rockstar]

Just it was a good low key educated opinion.

https://youtu.be/cEdKaEVNg3M

[Skybird]

Good video. My estimation has been that it will take until christmas season NEXT year, if all goes well, before things will be somewhere around "normal" again. The video seems to aim at tbat timetable, too. But think things can go worse due to subsequent effects: muted demand due to exploding inflation, high energy prices etc.



Optimism is not justified. Only the attempt of preparing for anything as best as one can.

[3catcircus]

A central bank was made to betray, so it is run by fraudsters. You have no point there. A centrla bank will always cheta and betray, sicne that is its key competence: FIAT currency is counterfeit money, is fraud. Always. No matter who is at the helm.



Idiots demanding that there shall be state-controlled paper-"money", and paper-"money", they form a hen-and-egg problem now. It now does not matter who was first.

Who are the officers of that central bank??? *They* made decisions to cheat. Whether fiat currency, fractional banking, or trading in physical gold - cheaters gonna continue cheating unless they receive well-deserved punishment.

[Skybird]

Who are the officers of that central bank???
Governments. And not just in case of that one, but all central banks.

I recommend to study the history of the growing in significance of the Bank of England over the 18th century. It began at the end of the 17th century with the need by the crown to finance the payment of icreasing the fleet strength of the RN although the crown's finances did not allow that and laid in ruins. When during the Napoleonic wars the "bank of the banks", that achieved that status in several steps of institutional rise during the forgoing century, had eroded its material safeties to a degree that it ended up in a situation where it had mandated seven times more notes in circulation (imagine there are 7 chips handed out by the wardrobe, but there is only 1 coat...), parliament granted it the right to switch to cash-free finance businesses without need for mateiral value safeties.

The first paper money experiment however was run not by the British, but the Chinese, and already in the 12th century. One generation after that one kingdom where it took place had started the attempt, the kingdom was up in flames and broke apart in civil war, the state structures blown apart, and the economy having degenerated into total collapse. After that the Chinese did not touch paper moeny experiments again just until recent modern times.

Whether a medieval king reduces the content of silver in silver coins, or a government of the present has its central bank inflating paper currency - intention and effect both are identical: to gain real value by paying material substance and labour service with nothing. The securing of royal monopoly for minting, and the govenrment monopoly to control paper money and printing it exclusively, both are precondition for the committing of the crime: forging money. This serves the desire of politicians to bribe voters with more promise than what could be afforded and fulfilled, while pushing the paying of the bills for the escalating promises and briberies to a time beyond that politician's career end.

[3catcircus]

Governments. And not just in case of that one, but all central banks.

I recommend to study the history of the growing in significance of the Bank of England over the 18th century. It began at the end of the 17th century with the need by the crown to finance the payment of icreasing the fleet strength of the RN although the crown's finances did not allow that and laid in ruins. When during the Napoleonic wars the "bank of the banks", that achieved that status in several steps of institutional rise during the forgoing century, had eroded its material safeties to a degree that it ended up in a situation where it had mandated seven times more notes in circulation (imagine there are 7 chips handed out by the wardrobe, but there is only 1 coat...), parliament granted it the right to switch to cash-free finance businesses without need for mateiral value safeties.

The first paper money experiment however was run not by the British, but the Chinese, and already in the 12th century. One generation after that one kingdom where it took place had started the attempt, the kingdom was up in flames and broke apart in civil war, the state structures blown apart, and the economy having degenerated into total collapse. After that the Chinese did not touch paper moeny experiments again just until recent modern times.

Whether a medieval king reduces the content of silver in silver coins, or a government of the present has its central bank inflating paper currency - intention and effect both are identical: to gain real value by paying material substance and labour service with nothing. The securing of royal monopoly for minting, and the govenrment monopoly to control paper money and printing it exclusively, both are precondition for the committing of the crime: forging money. This serves the desire of politicians to bribe voters with more promise than what could be afforded and fulfilled, while pushing the paying of the bills for the escalating promises and briberies to a time beyond that politician's career end.

Again u don't get my point. So governments run central banks. Who runs government? It's not a supercomputer or AI robot. Government is staffed and run by people. Hold them accountable. *All* of them. If the president of a government appoints a group of cronies to run the central bank, then you punish not only his cronies, but him as well. You also punish the other people running that Central Bank involved in the decision-making even if they didn't partake of illegality - because they knew about it and did nothing to stop it.

The problem now is that the people running governments, corporations and other influential organizations are themselves all corrupt and all feeding at the same trough.

They all need to go. When they interfere in the ability to remove them at the ballot box (or they make it so that there is no ballot box), then they shouldn't be surprised when their citizens or subjects remove them at gunpoint.

And it isn't just presidents and CEOs. The guy appointed to run the state Liquor Commission who inhibits competition by alcohol companies wanting to sell their products in that state. The woman appointed to be in charge of the Department of Motor Vehicles that issues driver licenses that allows the people working there to not put customer service first. The city mayor that takes a bribe to allow one construction company to win a contract over their competitors. The college professor who teaches Marxist theory to impressionable students. The college students who engage in cancel culture and the people running entities that react to their demands instead of ignoring them. They *all* need to go.

[Skybird]

Voting polticians out of office is NOT "holding them accountable". Its only to send them off the scvene of their cirme, while they can keep all the profits it earned them financially and socially. Liable they would be if they owuld need to cpnesate with their private property andf belongings, even their lives, for the damages they inked with their decisions.



It compares to catchign a bank robber and brignbing him to court (elections). There he is being told by the bank he robbed that he is not allowed into any of its offices and buildings anymore and will not be allwoed ot maintain a ban account. He can however keep the moeny he has stolen, and walk away as a free man. Thats a politician's "accountability".


And then there is the symbolic drama queen stuff. A politician needs to clean his reputation of abad or inc0ket5ent legacy ha casued. What doe she do? Well he has a copy of Harry Potter's almanach with magical spells, in there he looks up the spell that is the antidot against being held liable, it goes: " I hereby accept the potlical repsoinsibility", and abrakadabra, tatarataaa: "all rdepsinbility falls of his burdned shoulders, he must not bear any comensation, any respnsibility, he is lcean again and can wlak off and show up for office in some othe rpost as if nothiugn eve rhappened.


Has anyone noticved that even potlicians that got driven out of a post - as if by magic tend to pop up again, all their life long again and again, moving from one post to the next, because they all are so omnipotent, intellectual supermen?


Thats why I saY: "dont vote for them. Do not morally and oratically legitimise them. Do not trade away your moral right to criticise the, becasue if you yuthorize them to coimmit their cirmes of which you shoul.d know they do them, you have no morla righ tnamyore to crioticise them: because you knew they woudl do what they do when you authprozed them to do it." You become an accomplice by giving your vote.


Do not oby the state. Do no cooperate with the state. Do not help the state. Do not assist the state. Do not legitimise the state for anything voluntarily. Do not accept to sign the state a moral legitimation of any sorts. The state is not the "Vater", it is not your friend, it does not mean it well with you, it is not an equal contractor meetign you on same eye level, it manipulates its home-made rules to serve its ambitions and to submit you to them, it prevents you more and more from legally resisting to its claims for ever growing powers. The state is our worst enemy. Or in Nietzsche's words: "the states are the coldest of all monsters." All states are, "theirs" as well as "ours". Like economic markets have an inherent drive to form monopolies that consumers must prevent by making their consuming choices accordingly to boost competition and prevent monopolies, states have inherent drives to let bureaucracy grow like cancer and to monopolise ever more and more powers. Thats why ever y state, no matter what format and ideology it is founded on, always and inevitably leads to and ends in tyranny and dictatorship and total authoritarianism. Always.


All states on Earth must be brought to an end. All superregional governance must end. Service companies must take over, bound to regiuonal customers (former ciotiozens) by contracts that allows both sides to sue the other for compensation if it violates its contract duties. Law enforcvment must turn this way, too, both police-like service as well as jurisdictional adminstration.



What we have today instead, is nothing else but a continuation of millenia-old feudal structures that only have feudal lords and serfs, subject that are being owned and told they owe the lords obedience and their working force. Clever cosmetics are used to hide this, but thats the basic structure of our modern states, and I do not take neither Germany nor the United States as exceptions. They are not.

[Kapitan]

Good video. My estimation has been that it will take until christmas season NEXT year, if all goes well, before things will be somewhere around "normal" again. The video seems to aim at tbat timetable, too. But think things can go worse due to subsequent effects: muted demand due to exploding inflation, high energy prices etc.



Optimism is not justified. Only the attempt of preparing for anything as best as one can.

If everything goes smoothly and theres no further hold ups delays or shutdowns, the maritime sector could be back to normal by Q2 2022

[Skybird]

If everything goes smoothly and theres no further hold ups delays or shutdowns, the maritime sector could be back to normal by Q2 2022


Thats the rub: "If". But as I see it, a chain reaciton has started, bringing more and more components of the global logistics and consumption chain out of tact.


Normal availability may be possible againduring autumn next year. But at much higher price indices.



And that does not even calculate in energy costs frenzies and inflation.



We have left the comfort zone, forever. Tooth paste is not being pressed back into the tube. Gobalization and supply chains need to be chnaged, and dramatically.



All my fears of and criticism for total globalization have come true, it seems to me.

[vienna]

...


All my fears of and criticism for total globalization have come true, it seems to me.


...nah...


..."its just the normal noises in the room"...




<O>

[Texas Red]

Can confirm schools in my area are suffering from severe shortages of food and utensils.

Our school has run out of chips, forks, and spoons, ranch dressing, napkins nearly, a bunch of other sides, and we aren't allowed to get seconds after our first helping.

My grandma is a lunch lady at a school in Lake County and she is saying the same thing. They can't serve breakfast items anymore because they can't get them, they have no meat for things like chicken nuggets and burgers, etc etc.

Honestly, my school may not shut down because of COVID but because of the fact that the school cannot provide lunch for their students!

[Jimbuna]

The end product will be higher inflation and interest rates.

[3catcircus]

What an abject failure the Biden administration is in regards to this. When orangemanbad was in office, the initial shortages at the beginning of these pandemic were resolved within a few weeks.

This mumbling, stuttering waterhead in office now, along with his utterly incompetent West Wing tv show LARPer staff, have managed to destroy our entire economy in less than a year. Between unconstitutional demands that employers force workers to get a covid vaccine and paying lazy bums to not work, there will continue to be shortages as cargo ships bob at anchor, trucks/trains/airplanes remain without pilots/engineers/drivers, and thieves brazenly steal from store shelves in Dem-run cities that have decriminalized thievery.

Meanwhile Janet Yellen is doing her best Baghdad Bob impression while telling people not to panic about the shortages.

[Rockstar]

The end product will be higher inflation and interest rates.

Im beginning to think it has a lot to do with the ‘tax the rich’ scheme. With most nation agreeing to a new minimum 15% global tax rate plan. Corporations will place that new burden square on the shoulders of the consumer. I betting inflation isn’t going any higher than the new tax rate.

[3catcircus]

Im beginning to think it has a lot to do with the ‘tax the rich’ scheme. With most nation agreeing to a new minimum 15% global tax rate plan. Corporations will place that new burden square on the shoulders of the consumer. I betting inflation isn’t going any higher than the new tax rate.

Socialists gonna be socialist...

The utter stupidity of lawmakers who think that corporations are just gonna eat a tax increase. They'll either pass it along to they're customers, or employ new tax avoidance measures.

I'm interested to see how many corporations move their home to Kenya or Sri Lanka - or anywhere with a lower tax rate.

[mapuc]

It has been on the news here in Denmark and in Sweden.

Watching these issues made me remember what my Grandma and grandpa once told me about food restriction during WWII where Danes got these coupon which allowed them to buy so much butter/milk/meat per week

Will we end in same situation ?

Markus

[3catcircus]

It has been on the news here in Denmark and in Sweden.

Watching these issues made me remember what my Grandma and grandpa once told me about food restriction during WWII where Danes got these coupon which allowed them to buy so much butter/milk/meat per week

Will we end in same situation ?

Markus

It ends with us eating bugs or each other... Soylent Green tastes dee-lish-usss!

[Jimbuna]

It has been on the news here in Denmark and in Sweden.

Watching these issues made me remember what my Grandma and grandpa once told me about food restriction during WWII where Danes got these coupon which allowed them to buy so much butter/milk/meat per week

Will we end in same situation ?

Markus

That was known as 'rationing' Markus

[mapuc]

That was known as 'rationing' Markus

Thank you Jim. While writing my comment I just couldn't remember the word.

Markus

[Jimbuna]

Thank you Jim. While writing my comment I just couldn't remember the word.

Markus

No problem matey, I know many countries used the same term but Denmark could quite easily have had a different name or term for it.

[mapuc]

No problem matey, I know many countries used the same term but Denmark could quite easily have had a different name or term for it.

Now that I remember the word in Danish it's called Rationering.

Back to shortages.

We are also been told we can expect empty shelf during Christmas and New Years eve. People should order they Christmas gift a.s.a.p.

Markus

[Rockstar]

Socialists gonna be socialist...

The utter stupidity of lawmakers who think that corporations are just gonna eat a tax increase. They'll either pass it along to they're customers, or employ new tax avoidance measures.

I'm interested to see how many corporations move their home to Kenya or Sri Lanka - or anywhere with a lower tax rate.

Too many countries including the major powers are on the global tax band wagon. Last I saw the opposition to the tax included Barbados, Estonia, Hungary, Ireland, Kenya, Nigeria, Sri Lanka, St. Vincent, Peru and the Grenadines. The only possible good I can possibility see in this is the slim chance those companies that fled offshore to avoid taxes here may return. But still, raising corporate taxes isn’t the answer either because the consumer is still going to get shafted paying them one way or another. What really needs to be reigned government spending.

[3catcircus]

Too many countries including the major powers are on the global tax band wagon. Last I saw the opposition to the tax included Barbados, Estonia, Hungary, Ireland, Kenya, Nigeria, Sri Lanka, St. Vincent, Peru and the Grenadines. The only possible good I can possibility see in this is the slim chance those companies that fled offshore to avoid taxes here may return. But still, raising corporate taxes isn’t the answer either because the consumer is still going to get shafted paying them one way or another. What really needs to be reigned government spending.

Well - it really needs to be less government in general. We have far too many government employees at all levels of government who, if they were ever necessary to begin with, are now nothing more than a symptom of largesse.

For example - the toll collectors were originally guessed to collect the tolls that were meant to pay for the road construction. Now, the roads have been paid for 10x over as the tolls now go to service there pensions, salaries, and benefits of the tool collectors - all with continuous cries for more funding for maintenance and upkeep.

Likewise - there are around 24,000 Congressional staffers. That's an average of 44 staff per senator/congressman. Most if not all of them shouldn't be employed. Perhaps if Congress had to write their own bills and read their own bills, we wouldn't be in the mess we're in.

Likewise, in many federal government jobs, the government employee is an incompetent figurehead while the work gets done by a contractor. Why pay for one employee when you can get two for 3x the price...

All of the waste of oxygen ex-govvies can go become longshoremen and truck drivers and help end our shortages...

[August]

One thing I would like to see is the end of these large omnibus bills. Far too large and usually presented with little or no time to reasonably read and absorb all the details. Bills passing through congress should be about one single thing or issue. You want to address five issues then draft five separate bills and while you're at it limit them to no more than a half dozen pages of verbiage.

[Onkel Neal]

One thing I would like to see is the end of these large omnibus bills. Far too large and usually presented with little or no time to reasonably read and absorb all the details. Bills passing through congress should be about one single thing or issue. You want to address five issues then draft five separate bills and while you're at it limit them to no more than a half dozen pages of verbiage.

Yeah, I feel the same way about these staggering trillion dollar spending bills. Politicians just keep piling more spending into them, it's out of control.

[3catcircus]

Yeah, I feel the same way about these staggering trillion dollar spending bills. Politicians just keep piling more spending into them, it's out of control.

Your could have used less words and just said politicians are out of control...

[August]

Your could have used less words and just said politicians are out of control...

He could have used even less words and just said "politicians". Saying that they're out of control is redundant. :)

[Otto Harkaman]

https://funvizeo.com/media/memes/995816f988d24855/politicians-politicians-everywhere-memes-0c29b59dd7ebab15-ba66dfbed1afdd65.jpg

[em2nought]

https://funvizeo.com/media/memes/995816f988d24855/politicians-politicians-everywhere-memes-0c29b59dd7ebab15-ba66dfbed1afdd65.jpg




https://gailbwilliams.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/oh-the-horror.jpg

[mapuc]

https://funvizeo.com/media/memes/995816f988d24855/politicians-politicians-everywhere-memes-0c29b59dd7ebab15-ba66dfbed1afdd65.jpg

Your picture reminded me of a scene in Naked Gun 2½
Where the Mayor says to Detective Frank Drebin
(Can't remember exact word phrase)

The Town is ruin by animals, what's your excuse ?
Frank Drebin - Don't blame me I didn't vote for/on them.


Edit
Changed what Frank Drebin says to the Mayor
End edit

Markus

[Gorpet]

I am looking forward to the Democrat destruction of this Country. Why? Every middle class American since Obama was elected could not and would not.Say no to anything the Democrats wanted to do.They reinvented themselves as what they are today. And if you think the Republican's are any different you have forgotten college. Oh that's right you couldn't get in their College even if you had money. It was all about Blood. They are all the same and by their own deadline. There will be a 1 party rule in this country. And they and the Ruling families of this world.Have decided no more Wars but they have to get rid of excess people on this planet. It's all about resources and this virus is just a start they will refine it as they need to.

[3catcircus]

I am looking forward to the Democrat destruction of this Country. Why? Every middle class American since Obama was elected could not and would not.Say no to anything the Democrats wanted to do.They reinvented themselves as what they are today. And if you think the Republican's are any different you have forgotten college. Oh that's right you couldn't get in their College even if you had money. It was all about Blood. They are all the same and by their own deadline. There will be a 1 party rule in this country. And they and the Ruling families of this world.Have decided no more Wars but they have to get rid of excess people on this planet. It's all about resources and this virus is just a start they will refine it as they need to.

George Carlin was 100% correct when he said they're all in a big club and you ain't in it...

[Kapitan]

Looking at the spot hire container market due to the shortages in the system, a typical spot rate for LA to China has gone from $1800 to over $14,000 :o

The problems in the USA have gotten a little worse Ohio has shortages of some food products at present as well as other states, Canada has a shortage of some products as well.

[Skybird]

Looking at the spot hire container market due to the shortages in the system, a typical spot rate for LA to China has gone from $1800 to over $14,000 :o



Yep.

https://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showpost.php?p=2774322&postcount=252


And I bet inflation stays high for long time to come. It snot a shoret-fashoned phenomenon as they desperately hope.


I also think we have entered a new era. The era of shortage and no more overflow.



The Green deal money annihilation the Eu and other planned, soone ror later will be tackled and axed more or less. They cannot maintain it without risking serious social collapse and civil unrest. Ordinary people simply cannot afford the price explosions it brings. (Not that inflation is caused by it. )

[Armistead]

Think it's time to use the US military to handle the cargo crisis, they have the ships, manpower and leadership to do so.

[mapuc]

Think it's time to use the US military to handle the cargo crisis, they have the ships, manpower and leadership to do so.


They will be activated when the crisis deepens. In that I'am pretty sure they will.

Markus

[Kapitan]

Think it's time to use the US military to handle the cargo crisis, they have the ships, manpower and leadership to do so.

The MSC has limited sea lift capability to supplement the current problems also the USA flagged vessels are few and far between

Military is only good for some cases as well, the best you will get is them driving trucks they won’t have much of an idea how to run a civilian port or facility so your scope for using the military is very limited

[Gorpet]

George Carlin was 100% correct when he said they're all in a big club and you ain't in it...

Well i had to go look that guy up, And your right i Wasn't in the club in high school and i sure as hell wasn't in the College club. Even though i scored higher on every test.My family lived on a Democratic Dream and that was work will make you free and belive in us and your future you and your children will reap the benefits. That was in 1958 my father was 20 yrs old and i was just born. He and my mother both died 50an55 yrs later.The dream was a lie they both died working themselves to their graves. But they taught their 4 children how not to ever believe in a political party's bull****. But for my 3 sisters, well the die was cast for them. Now i on the other hand became a soldier of fortune not in the military sense.And all these years later the Democrats are like a cancer. They will take everything you have worked for. And give it to the Parasites of society and call it leveling up. Ya know what i think i may just show them what that really means. ... Of course i'm talkin vote.