President Joe Biden can add saving Christmas to the list of his accomplishments after taking office less than a year ago. Remember when we were hearing dire reports of shipyard bottlenecks, not enough truck drivers, and foreign countries’ gift-making workers too sick to work? Well, our president climbed onto the top of those hurdles and made Christmas happen.
POTUS AND FedEx managed to untangle the mess that could have been. And would have been in another administration whose leader said in essence “I got mine. Screw You.”
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki announced the good news for children of all ages, The Business Insider reported:
‘Good news, we’ve saved Christmas. And that is because President Biden recognized this challenge early, acted as an honest broker to bring key stakeholders together, and focused on addressing practical problems across the global supply chain.’
President Biden started back in June to handle rising prices, empty shelves, and a scarcity of “crucial components,” according to Reuters.
Of course, the situation has not been fully resolved. There may still be some candy-cane manufacturers caught by the COVID-19 worker shortages. Certainly, farmers and retailers have expressed shortages due to the pandemic.
The White House announced Wednesday that fuel prices have declined 12 cents per gallon to an average of $3.30.” President Biden said:
‘The much-predicted crisis didn’t occur. Packages are moving, gifts are being delivered, shelves are not empty.’
The president called for 24-hour port operations to speed up things. In addition, he called in top retailers such as Target Corp and Walmart Inc. to work on solutions to fill their shelves.
As a result:
‘Shelves at grocery and drug stores are stocked at 90% of their full capacity, he said, and deliveries are happening at a faster rate than before the pandemic.’
This president sent in investigators to find out what caused the “excessive shipping fees and possible illegal conduct in oil and gas markets.”
For the Wednesday meeting, our 46th president also called in his secretaries of Agriculture, Commerce, Labor, and Transportation. He also added National Economic Council Director Brian Deese and Port Envoy John Porcari. Then, there were CEOs of “clothing retailer Gap Inc., Kansas-based trucking company Yellow Corp, and the American Association of Port Authorities.”
Reuters reported that the basis for this huge problem was the once-a-century pandemic:
‘Much of the shipping crunch resulted from the pandemic. Homebound Americans with unspent travel and entertainment dollars and government stimulus checks splurged on everything from food and refrigerators to toys and exercise equipment. The demand for imports overwhelmed supply chains.’
As a result of the president’s actions in South California ports, containers have been moving much faster. His administration announced that “shipping container wait time [was] cut in half.”
According to FedEx CEO Fred Smith, not every problem has been solved:
‘[But] most of Santa Claus’ products will be delivered to the consumers. We think the peak season is going to be a good one. Inflation pressures should ease as labor shortages in the logistics industry are filled.’
Walmart Chief Executive Doug McMillon said last month that the president’s solution of 24-hour port operations was a good one. Still, there are “thousands of loaded import containers have been cleared from docks since the administration began intervening:”
‘The busiest U.S. seaport complex of Los Angeles/Long Beach continues to grapple with a flood of empty containers and about 90 container ships waiting offshore to unload.’
As a result of Biden’s actions, the stock market has remained strong throughout this narrowly-averted crisis. Most S&P 500 companies have gone well beyond “third-quarter expectations.” And corporate profits on average look strong.
Three White Lions podcast, Gloria Christie reads her week’s most important news/ commentary stories in the liberal online newspaper The Bipartisan Report. Gloria Christie Report her newsletter for people on the go. Written in her own unique style with a twist of humor in a briefer version of Bipartisan Report. Christie’s Mueller Report Adventures In Bite-Sizes a real-life compelling spy mystery (in process). Find her here on Facebook.
