A perfect storm is sweeping across America as the trillions of dollars that were just pumped into the economy are driving consumer demand significantly higher. However, adding that to tight supplies and transportation issues, and the result we are getting is a massive shortage of everything, while prices reach astronomical highs. From steel and aluminium to electronic chips and control boards, from lumber to home appliances, cars, trucks, electrical equipments, and an enormously wide range of manufactured goods, industries are facing catastrophic supply disruptions, as production has been slowed down over the past few months, transportation problems continue to delay deliveries, and a sudden upsurge in demand is pushing the price of everything up at a much faster pace than people's income growth.
Although the $1,400 checks may be providing some short-term relief to millions of families, the mismatch between demand and output will make everything more expensive, which means the Weimar-like hyperinflation we warned about has just begun. If that's what authorities call "recovery", we must be prepared because we are about to face a generalized supply-chain breakdown and the rapid decay of our purchasing power. That's what we're going to expose in this video.
The arrival of stimulus money into the accounts of millions of Americans should come as financial relief for those who were deeply struggling during the recession. But soaring prices will cause the opposite effect since fewer people will be able to afford the same goods they used to consume. As we discussed in many of our previous videos, the Federal Reserve's constant liquidity pumps would eventually end up triggering runaway inflation, and that's exactly what's happening right now. As business owner Mike Shuler described in an interview, “people are making so much money being unemployed and then so much of the stimulus money, that a lot of people aren’t going back to work and it’s awful for the restaurant industry". Just as many other restaurant owners, he is having to face some difficult questions about the future of his business. But the restaurant sector is just one of the many dealing hardships right now.
The industry of electrical equipments, appliances, and components is also experiencing a major breakdown. According to Tim Fiore, who oversees the ISM survey, "things are now out of control. Everything is a mess, and we are seeing wide-scale shortages”. From steel and aluminum to electronic chips and control boards, there are shortages of everything. Over the past few months, after so many rounds of business shutdowns and the consequent deceleration of economic activity, several companies were forced to slow down production, and now in face of the growing demand, "shortages are way up," Fiore said. The unexpectedly strong demand for manufactured goods is providing a boom across many of the country's industries, but it is being followed by a big headache: as supply chains are getting the tightest they have ever been, critical industry components are proving a lot more difficult to procure.
Transportation problems are also leading to gas shortages all over the nation, and consumers are already feeling the impacts of it on their wallets. The latest AAA data suggests that gas prices in South Carolina are now trading at $2.64/gallon, a 36 cent raise from last month alone, and a 66 cent increase from last year. Even more worryingly, in the housing industry, shortages of critical materials used to build new homes are threatening to bring construction to a standstill. Shortages of cabinets, appliances, and vinyl to extrude windows have are halting the construction of new homes, as there was an 80% jump in copper prices. Homebuilders were already dealing with a major lumber shortage - which sent prices up by 180% and added roughly $30,000 to the cost of a smaller-sized home. Consequently, higher mortgage rates and rising prices of construction materials will “take some of the steam off the super-hot housing market,” according to Dr. Lawrence Yun, chief economist at the National Association of Realtors. “If we don't have adequate supply, it's going to simply push up prices much faster than people's income growth,” Yun said.
And as more money flows into the economy, we are about to experience more shortages of multiple other goods, while watching how the Fed-fueled inflationary spike will ravage our purchasing power. We're now on phase two of the economic collapse, or, what some like to call: "The Everything Collapse" - which means we just entered an era where everything will spiral out of control and result in the most dramatic crisis this country has ever seen. Now more than ever, you should start to get ready for the troubles that are coming next.
Economist website: https://www.epiceconomist.com
