Shipping container Inflation! (700%)

[JohnO]

Since China makes darn near everything sold in the U.S., it has to get here.

The cost to ship containers overseas has soared in recent months. Getting a 40-foot container from Shanghai to New York cost about $2,000 a year and a half ago, just before the Covid pandemic. Now, it runs some $16,000, according to Bank of America.

Yowza! A 700% increase. Buckle up the ride is getting rough.

Costco, Nike and FedEx are warning there’s more inflation set to hit consumers as holidays approach
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/09/24/cost...-approach.html

[Navin Johnson]

Since China makes darn near everything sold in the U.S., it has to get here.



Yowza! A 700% increase. Buckle up the ride is getting rough.

Costco, Nike and FedEx are warning there’s more inflation set to hit consumers as holidays approach
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/09/24/cost...-approach.html

Those numbers are NOT west coast prices. Before the "vid" 4-5 k to Sea-town (now called chop) from Taiwan. Last one we got a month ago was 12k. now around 20-21K quoted.

Lots of empty containers sitting in ports that need to go back but cost the same even if empty.

No one to unload and deliver full containers sitting in ports and on boats in harbors.

Unemployment money is making it hard to get drivers.

[jh9]

Unemployment money is making it hard to get drivers.

There is no data to support that narrative. It may be hard to get drivers, but unemployment money isn't the cause.

https://www.bls.gov/charts/employmen...yment-rate.htm

We're 1.7% off where we were when covid hit, at 5.3% vs 14.8% at peak covid.

Even in Texas the state is within 0.7% of the national average: https://gov.texas.gov/es/travel-texa...over-the-month

I don't know why "you fired/furloughed/etc them, so they went somewhere else and stayed there" is so hard for people to accept. Just because people don't want to work the jobs you come into contact with doesn't mean they aren't working.

[Navin Johnson]

There is no data to support that narrative. It may be hard to get drivers, but unemployment money isn't the cause.

https://www.bls.gov/charts/employmen...yment-rate.htm

We're 1.7% off where we were when covid hit, at 5.3% vs 14.8% at peak covid.

Even in Texas the state is within 0.7% of the national average: https://gov.texas.gov/es/travel-texa...over-the-month

I don't know why "you fired/furloughed/etc them, so they went somewhere else and stayed there" is so hard for people to accept. Just because people don't want to work the jobs you come into contact with doesn't mean they aren't working.

I am not an economist and am going on what the local shipping yards have told me.

That being said I'm very glad to hear the above as I am concerned that Uncle Joe's extra unemployment money in an attempt to drive up wages was going to cause an even greater inflation problem than we have now.

[littlejerry]

There is no data to support that narrative. It may be hard to get drivers, but unemployment money isn't the cause.

https://www.bls.gov/charts/employmen...yment-rate.htm

We're 1.7% off where we were when covid hit, at 5.3% vs 14.8% at peak covid.

Even in Texas the state is within 0.7% of the national average: https://gov.texas.gov/es/travel-texa...over-the-month

I don't know why "you fired/furloughed/etc them, so they went somewhere else and stayed there" is so hard for people to accept. Just because people don't want to work the jobs you come into contact with doesn't mean they aren't working.

The unemployment rate is a pretty meaningless statistic for evaluating whether people are back to work as it only accounts for people actively looking for employment. Look at the employmentopulation ratio. We're currently at or below the great recession.

[jh9]

That being said I'm very glad to hear the above as I am concerned that Uncle Joe's extra unemployment money in an attempt to drive up wages was going to cause an even greater inflation problem than we have now.

Right. The Federal $300 thing ran out a few weeks ago and several states ended it before that.

[jh9]

The unemployment rate is a pretty meaningless statistic for evaluating whether people are back to work as it only accounts for people actively looking for employment. Look at the employmentopulation ratio. We're currently at or below the great recession.

People aren't crawling into ditches and giving up. The unemployment money dried up and everyone went back to work, albeit in a lot of cases in completely different industries.

edit: and regardless of what it measures it's comparing the same thing over the last 20 years. There is no shadow workforce that's decided they'd rather be homeless rather than do the same job they were doing before the pandemic. (The same jobs, btw, that are throwing money at anyone who will show up.)

[littlejerry]

People aren't crawling into ditches and giving up. The unemployment money dried up and everyone went back to work, albeit in a lot of cases in completely different industries.

edit: and regardless of what it measures it's comparing the same thing over the last 20 years. There is no shadow workforce that's decided they'd rather be homeless rather than do the same job they were doing before the pandemic. (The same jobs, btw, that are throwing money at anyone who will show up.)

Per the source you cited, the data doesn't support your hypothesis. A large portion of the population has decided not to go back to work. "Why" is up for debate, not "If"

[Crow Hunter]

The unemployment rate is a pretty meaningless statistic for evaluating whether people are back to work as it only accounts for people actively looking for employment. Look at the employmentopulation ratio. We're currently at or below the great recession.

WOW.

That explains something that has been bothering me for a while. I could not get my brain wrapped around how just barely a decade ago everyone was worried about being laid off and trying desperately to find a job, any job. Then boom, suddenly no one can find anyone to work but the population hasn't suddenly dropped nor have any local businesses had massive expansions. I am not exaggerating, my wife is in charge of HR for the largest employer in this county that has great benefits and pay, even a freaking pension, and they CANNOT find people to work.

Now the question is, why is a similar percentage of the population in the U.S. choosing to not be employed as there were people who couldn't get a job during the Great Recession when people were afraid of "losing their homes" and "having their children go hungry".

Why aren't those same people now not worried? What about all those poor "I graduated and there were no jobs" people who can't pay their student loans back because they couldn't find jobs?

I wonder what is different?

[littlejerry]

WOW.

That explains something that has been bothering me for a while. I could not get my brain wrapped around how just barely a decade ago everyone was worried about being laid off and trying desperately to find a job, any job. Then boom, suddenly no one can find anyone to work but the population hasn't suddenly dropped nor have any local businesses had massive expansions. I am not exaggerating, my wife is in charge of HR for the largest employer in this county that has great benefits and pay, even a freaking pension, and they CANNOT find people to work.

Now the question is, why is a similar percentage of the population in the U.S. choosing to not be employed as there were people who couldn't get a job during the Great Recession when people were afraid of "losing their homes" and "having their children go hungry".

Why aren't those same people now not worried? What about all those poor "I graduated and there were no jobs" people who can't pay their student loans back because they couldn't find jobs?

I wonder what is different?

https://unemploymentdata.com/unemplo...ployment-rate/

There are 6 types of unemployment tracked by the BLS. U3 is what is typically reported my the media outlets. It's not a great barometer for the job market. Often times the U3 will drop because people become long term unemployed or are not even in the labor force. This happened a lot from 2010-2016 and the media would always sing Obama's praise for lowering the unemployment even though they were simply shifting numbers to long-term unemployed or not in labor force.

Conversely the U3 rate can rise when the market is hot and people re-enter the labor force after having been unemployed for a long period. This was happening in 2016-18.

Today we have the same chearleaders saying "Look the U3 is low!" while ignoring the massive numbers of people who are no longer in the labor force.

The fewer producers we have in the economy the worse off we are.