Breaking the Supply Chain
The least valuable cabinet member is at it again. Or, more accurately, he isn’t at it…again.
There is a major issue brewing in the transportation world and Secretary of Transportation is Missing In Action, yet again. With Hurricane Helene ravaging portions of the south and east coast, I wish that was the only problem. God help all those people in Florida, Georgia, and the Carolinas as they recover from the recent devastation. Lord knows President Biden is asleep, Vice President Harris is out campaigning, and Secretary Mayorkas has a border problem to deal with. None of them are coming to help.
The problem few people are aware of, and fewer are talking about, is the pending strike by the Longshoreman’s Union. If you don’t know who those folks are, they are the ones who load and unload all the ships that come into ports across the United States. Do you remember when COVID caused quarantines and there was a massive disruption to the supply chain? This has the potential to be worse. Much worse.
Reports are the International Longshoremen’s Association are negotiating about wages and automation at ports. I am not in the middle of this, so I am not going to speculate or offer an opinion about what the key issues are and where both sides sit. What I will say is this is FAR reaching beyond the docks and the Secretary of Transportation should be involved, at a minimum.
The strike, if it comes to pass, will impact dock work from Maine to the Texas Gulf Coast. This is no small matter. Nothing getting loaded or unloaded. None of the containers sitting on the docks will leave the docks. Nothing on trucks coming in or out. Nothing.
For those that are unfamiliar with places like New York, New Jersey, Philadelphia, and Chicago, let me explain how this can grow and get out of hand quickly. If the Longshoremen strike, they will set up picket lines. In the states and cities I mentioned, other unions will not cross those lines for almost any reason. Either they will honor the picket as a sign of union solidarity, or they will be intimidated by those striking to honor the picket.
That means unions like the Teamsters, Service Employees International Union (SEIU), and others will not step foot on the docks. There will be nothing moving and no services rendered by those unions. The docks have the potential for no deliveries or pickups, no trash service, no pest control. Nothing.
With nothing moving, there will be a backlog of imports and exports. Trucks coming in will have nowhere to drop their containers. Where will all that product go? Ships coming into the ports will be the same way. Thousands of containers could potentially sit offshore waiting. If these are non-perishable items, they aren’t going to go bad, but the availability of those items will decrease….thus making them harder to find and then more expensive.
What about perishables? Exports will be sitting, waiting to get out. The potential impact of this on US agriculture cannot be understated, especially at this time of year when harvest has begun. Corn, soybeans, and wheat that get exported around the world will be stuck here, possibly rotting away. The financial loss that industry faces could be devastating. What about the imports sitting on ships waiting to come in? Those bananas and coffee beans we all need and love so much? Sitting on a ship. Rapidly going bad.
Sure, some of this will come in through the west coast docks not operated by the Longshoremen. But how much? And how much will be lost before it gets there? And how much more will it all cost for transport? Moving something via rail or truck from California to Virginia gets pretty expensive. No matter what, if the Longshoremen strike, we are in for price increases on almost every import coming in, and we have the potential to lose money on almost every export going out.
With this kind of impact on the entire United States, where is the Federal Government? Why is the party of “Big Gov” not stepping in to manage this? Why are they not protecting ALL OF US from another economic punch in the mouth? I mean, isn’t everything already expensive enough?
Two reasons: Vice President Harris needs the union vote so she is not going to interfere, potentially losing their endorsement, AND because Secretary of Transportation Buttigieg is the most useless member of President Biden’s Cabinet, and that is saying something.
Secretary Buttigieg has proven, beyond a doubt, that he has ignored his responsibilities at every given opportunity. From a $7.5 Billion budget for EV charging stations that produced exactly eight (yes, eight) of them, to the disastrous train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, to multiple FAA and aviation related issues, to the LAST TIME there was a massive supply chain disturbance in 2021, Secretary Buttigieg has failed over and over. He has NOT ONE single success story.
So, where is he? In 2021 when this happened, he was on Paternity Leave after he and his husband adopted a child. Listen, I don’t care about him being gay. I don’t care about him and his husband adopting a child. I don’t care. I watched dozens and dozens of deployed servicemembers MISS the birth of their children during the War on Terror because the MISSION was important, and this guy can’t come to work as a Cabinet Member during a NATIONAL CRISIS. I care about THAT.
Again, where is he? Rumor has it, he is doing debate prep with Governor Walz before the Vice Presidential debate tomorrow night. He is a cabinet member for the current administration and NOT a member of the campaign team for Vice President Harris nor for Governor Walz. I hope you see where the priorities are for the party that wants MORE FEDERAL CONTROL. They don’t care about maintaining the supply chain and the financial impact on the average American consumer or our farmers if they don’t.
Secretary Buttigieg and the Biden Administration and Vice President Harris will do nothing to step in and avert this crisis, because it helps them gain more power. And they care about MORE POWER. They care about taking away individual freedoms like Freedom of Speech and the Right to Bear Arms and the Right to Privacy and Freedom of Religion. They want more control over the American citizen. How do they do that? Big Gov. They take away your rights. Once they have done that, they control your food and life essentials. Then they own you.
Once those rights are taken away, how do they control your food and life essentials? By Breaking The Supply Chain.