Bleh.

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  • happybadger [he/him]
    ·
    6 months ago

    Four stories from the COVID supply crunch stood out to me:

    1. Factories building and garages maintaining 18-wheelers had to shut down because they couldn't source some small metal part that came from China domestically. It was just like a particular kind of ball-bearing.

    2. A factory that made doors had to shut down because it couldn't source its inputs domestically

    3. Municipal utility companies warned that they had no supplies to respond to infrastructure damage because they couldn't source them domestically

    4. Nurses were wearing trash bags while people paid $100 for homemade ineffective hand sanitiser on ebay because the basic supplies required to respond to the pandemic at any level couldn't be sourced domestically.

    Big fuck around energy.

    • Pluto [he/him, he/him]
      hexagon
      ·
      6 months ago

      Yeah, a lot of industries that the USA needs is basically overseas at this point.

      • happybadger [he/him]
        ·
        6 months ago

        It'd be a shame if this trade war escalated to make consumer goods unavailable/more expensive during what will probably be the hottest summer in human history and an election year where the majority of Americans hate their unhinged genocidal president who's gaslighting them about the ersatz economy.

        • Pluto [he/him, he/him]
          hexagon
          ·
          6 months ago

          Even if it's not a recession, it's basically "hard economic times" masqueraded as a "booming" economy... which is a term that means nothing at this point.

        • Adkml [he/him]
          ·
          6 months ago

          If he announced he was intentionally trying to lose I'd have to admit he has an incredible understanding of how material conditions impact voting.

      • DragonBallZinn [he/him]
        ·
        6 months ago

        The least the US can do is make it easier to leave the US. Like what is even the point?

        It's not like the rich need workers anymore, and they'd be happy to see us lowly poors go.

    • EmoThugInMyPhase [he/him]
      ·
      edit-2
      6 months ago

      Nurses were wearing trash bags while people paid $100 for homemade ineffective hand sanitiser on ebay because the basic supplies required to respond to the pandemic at any level couldn't be sourced domestically.

      The Chinese embassies were handing out food and PPE to medical workers in the US. American media and pundits got very angry because the workers were thanking the Chinese workers on social media. The media denounced it as “medical propaganda” or some shit.

      Municipal utility companies warned that they had no supplies to respond to infrastructure damage because they couldn't source them domestically

      I remember how the US banned Huawei from telecommunications in the US, but the problem is that a lot of rural areas rely on it because it provides cheap internet infrastructure for an otherwise poorer, isolated area. The US demanded they replace it with American equipment which was significantly more expensive because of contractors, and the federal government didn’t provide enough funds to even take down all the Huawei stuff let alone replace it all

      • AssortedBiscuits [they/them]
        ·
        6 months ago

        the federal government didn’t provide enough funds to even take down all the Huawei stuff let alone replace it all

        An entire country of half measures.