We Must Be Patient
The Port of Los Angeles will finally start operating 24/7 to get offshore container ships unloaded.
https://www.bbc.com/news/business-58901777
From the article:
One of biggest US ports will start operating 24 hours a day to try to clear long queues of cargo ships stuck waiting outside.
It comes as officials scramble to ease global supply issues that may lead to goods shortages this Christmas.
The Port of Los Angeles in California will handle more goods at night after a similar move by nearby Long Beach port.
The ports – which handle 40% of all cargo containers entering the US – have faced months of problems.
Major US firms such as Walmart and FedEx have also committed to increasing their round-the-clock operations to help clear the jam, the White House said on Wednesday.
What is going on?
Global supply chains have been disrupted as economies have unlocked and consumer demand has roared back.
As retailers rushed to restock their inventories, the shipping system struggled to keep up. Covid shutdowns at major ports and factories in Asia have added to the problem.
It has led to shortages of children’s toys, timber, new clothes and pet food in the US and elsewhere, while also pushing up consumer prices. – article
This does not at all explain the rise in gas at the pump. My exploratory jaunts have brought me to gas stations that were universally showing a cost of or near $3.599/gallon for regular, but that is in my state and my local area. Across the state line, it’s as much as $0.50/gal less, and per Gas Buddy, it appears to be dropping a bit. Gas Buddy is a good spot to check gas prices in your area. Use the map. It gives you a better scope on what is going on. Link is below.
https://www.gasbuddy.com/gaspricemap?lat=38.822395&lng=-96.591588&z=4
However, with the LA terminal setting up to run 24 hours per day, things may change a bit. It’s entirely possible that with bumping up the LA port’s hours, we might see inflation drop just a tad. Let’s hope so. Consumer demand is high right now, and no sensible corporation wants to be unable to take advantage of it.
Even so, keep a weather eye on things you take for granted. If the store shelves fill up again, then stock your pantry and shelves with canned and dry goods and if you have room for it, get a small freezer chest. Bread can be frozen for later use, and if nothing else, we can all learn to make our own rustic loaves and biscuits and dinner rolls.
Whether or not inflation will be substantially reduced, I can’t say. This topsy-turvy world we are in right now tells us that anything can happen at any moment. Australians are under much more duress from their own government than we are and New Zealand’s obnoxious PM shut the entire country down last year and has yet to release her grip on it.
We don’t want that here; we are free citizens, no matter what the political animals in WDC think, and we don’t take kindly to being treated like little kids.
Category: "The Floggings Will Continue Until Morale Improves", Economy
I heard that most of the problems stemming from getting a load out of Long Beach/Port of Los Angeles comes from the silly-assed Califruity exhaust emission laws that don’t allow a semi-tractor older than model year 2011 anywhere near the ports.
That’s a good portion of it. I also read (I’m trying to find the article) that California requires trucks to be electric by 2035, so nobody’s buying new trucks. Combine those two wonderful requirements and you’ve destroyed the independent, non union trucking industry. They cant afford to follow California laws and have left for greener pastures.
Another Commiefornia law holding up the trucks is that owner/operator semi truck drivers can’t pull trailers out of the ports, it has to be a union driver.
Brandon might have made the announcement, but he seems to have done so before checking with the dock workers and Unions. Getting them onboard is going to be spendy. Very spendy.
Yeah, I went to HS with one of the guys at presser and a few days earlier he was telling me how he doesn’t have the labor force to do the job in a timely manner, which he doesn’t understand as they’re six-figure union jobs
Stuff won’t fixed until Republicans get elected.
I am neither patient (Screen Name is KoB, not Job), nor do I make a good patient (just ask the doctor I fired for mistreating instead of treating me). ’bout to get really tired of all this crap. Could care less about the lack of toys or clothes on the shelves. There’s plenty of both in closets all over the land. This perfect storm of supply and demand can be traced, in part, back to the Klintoon trade agreements made in the 90s. Add that to manufacturers falling all over themselves to build plants in China, taking advantage of the slave labor available, and the loss of a work ethic from people who would rather be a member of the FSA than a productive member of Society.
Solve the port bottleneck problem by making the stuff we use here, here. While you’re at it, do away with the death grip that the Teamsters have on transportation, open up the domestic oil productions/pipelines, and get the Chinese out of our food production chain.
DeSantis has invited all to come to Florida ports. Seems they are open and operating, go figure.
No, he can’t run for President unless his replacement proves him/her self worthy.
Another self-inflicted wound. Ships stacked up and months later they consider the possibility of going to a 24-hr operation? Gee, what a buncha maroons.
Exactly. How were they not already 24/7? I just assumed they always had been with a port that large. Baffles the mind that it’s only operated part of the day.
Ah no. In the hub bub somehows the media misreported some things. Here is some debunking to the Biden Feelz good story.
https://lbpost.com/news/are-the-long-beach-and-los-angeles-ports-operating-24-7-as-biden-claimed-not-quite
And the futility of it because:
“Some terminal operators say there is no point extending hours when many of their regular pickup slots go unused by truckers. “We are open 90 hours a week now with 60% utilization,” said Sal Ferrigno, vice president of SSA Terminals”
https://www.wsj.com/articles/l-a-port-to-operate-around-the-clock-to-ease-cargo-logjams-white-house-says-11634115601
Why is this? Driver shortage. Something about high fuel prices, being paid extra money by the government not to work, excessive regulations… its all so confusing. Pretty sure it was all Trump’s fault.
The huge rise in gas prices is directly linked to Biden Administration energy policies that have resulted in a 15% decline in crude production in the US. These were reversals of Trump policies that made the US the world’s largest producer again. His policies are functioning exactly the way they were intended to.
In hilariously bad analysis by CNN January 27th of this year:
https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/27/business/fracking-ban-biden-federal-leasing/index.html
“Energy analysts dismissed the risk that these steps would cause a sudden spike in oil prices, which have sharply rebounded from their pandemic lows. ”
“Rapidan Energy projects the United States will produce about 1 million fewer barrels per day in 2023 than if Trump had won a second term.”
It is actually closer to 2 million this year. So we went from a high of about 13M to 11M. Any idiot could tell you that a shrinkage in supply of that magnitude would cause a huge increase in prices. Unless that idiot happens to be in the Biden Administration or work for left wing media.
In Hi-jinks worthy of Wesley Mouch… well just read it yourself:
https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/white-house-asks-us-oil-and-gas-companies-help-lower-fuel-costs-sources-2021-10-13/
So they plan to choke off supply and then blame the greedy oil companies is proceeding…
It’s really amazing just how much stuff Biden’s fucked up in such a short time. Frankly, it’s impressive the scale and the swiftness of his incompetence. It probably helps that “he’s” chosen such good minions to enact “his” policies.
Mason wrote:
“It’s really amazing just how much stuff Biden’s fucked up in such a short time.”
NAILED IT!!
And that is what is SCARY…because we have to put up with him for another 3 years, unless he kicks the bucket, gets impeached, gets assaninated, etc.etc..
Heaven help us if Harris becomes POTUS.
The Chinese control Biden…
The ninja family warned our grown kids BEFORE the last Election about surviving the Jimmy Carter years…
They are now getting it…
I know Carter was dumber than a box of bent screws, but he can’t measure up to the pure incompetence of the current Lack-of-Administration.
I do take heart that it’s entirely possible, from the comments I see in other places, that the dumbocraps are doing themselves so much damage this time, they may not recover from it in my lifetime or yours. There are many people who voted for Biden who have a LOT more than buyer’s remorse. Some have even said they wished they had voted for Orange Man Bad instead.
Off Topic, but would it be ok if I put in FIRST for the weekend open thread now because I am going to be in the recliner taking a nappy poo at the 3PM WOT slot.
Jeff:
WEMe like you.
We have always enjoy your puns and glad to hear you are mending from your surgery.
Yet, you STILL have not provided any source on your comment about Bob Hope with the USO during WWII.
Why?
As you can tell,what you wrote about Bob Hope was very disturbing to the ninja family.
We researched, researched and researched on what you wrote and found NOTHING.
So if you know something we do not know, why not share your source of information with us?
Or was it an urban legend you heard?
Bob Hope did ALOT for our Troops Morale.
Why did you write what you did?
For what it’s worth, I read the same accusation about Hope some time ago. Perhaps I’ve become oversensative, but I thought it had the faint aroma of a disgruntled rurmor monger on it.
Haven’t seen it since.
Thank You, AW1Ed…
Do you remember where you read it?
I looked EVERYWHERE for that information…EVERYWHERE…and found NADA, NOTHING.
Was it a Navy thing since you and Jeff are both Navy?
For a while, I worked with a team that was correcting “Urban Legends”, Rumors/False information that was spread on the Internet that folks believed (Similiar to Snopes or Truth or Fiction). Year after year we had to convince parents their children were not going to be poisoned by Trick or Treat candy, i.e. it was lies, that ones kidneys were not going to be cut out if they stayed in a hotel…so I contacted them and asked them if they could find if the info was true.
They found NOTHING.
The Bob Hope story is disturbing. If one puts this story on TAH, then why can’t one identify the source?
What if someone wrote on TAH that the Jews were not persecuted or suffered under Hitler during WWII…that it is a lie?
Or that Man never set foot on the moon?
Or that the Earth is flat?
Or that Soldiers returning from Vietnam were spit on? (An urban legend, NOT TRUE).
I hope you see where I am going with this.
If I am wrong, I am wrong. But I ask that Jeff or SOMEONE provide a source for that Bob Hope story.
Thank You, Ed.
Ninja;
I made that comment while reading the post on Denzel Washington being made an honorary SGT in the Mil/Army and thought that Denzel deserved the Honor more than Hope after hearing about the Hospital ship episode during WW2
Ninja.
This was back in the 1970’s when I listened to one of the radio stations and this is from a biography that the author being interviewed about his book wrote about bob hope which were the nice things and bad things. he was great in the movies but not that great in real life. He also talked about bing crosby on the same things. I remember that he mentioned that hope refused to go onboard the Hospital ship, and Jerry Collona and the rest of the USO tour went onboard. That was in the authors biography and I always remembered that till this day. Those two guys were angels on the screen but in real life at home, not that great. I don’t remember the name of the book or the Authers name.
Jeff:
THANK YOU!
We DID find a book written in 1993/1994 by Groucho Marx son about Bob Hope that focused on his womanizing.
I knew about Bing Crosby’s problems with his kids.
I have yet to find any book written in the 1970s about Bob Hope refusing to go on a Hospital ship on a USO Tour.
What is interesting is that I found pictures of Hope and Collona visiting injured troops in Hospitals in the South Pacific doing WWWII.
I found numerous videos of both of them entertaining troops in the South Pacific.
Stuff always comes out about folks when they are either near death or dead.
Eisenhower had mistresses. JFK bedded alot of women. So did RFK, Ted Kennedy, their Dad.
FDR bedded alot of women despite his polio that the White House hid.
I read alot…and there seems to be a trend with actors, actresses, politicians, etc…They either had Drug problems, cheated on their wives or husband (Elenor Roosevelt was supposedly a Lesbian), abused their children, hid their illness from public, had illegitimate children that DNA proved the child was theirs…Heck, Thomas Jefferson had Kids with one of his slaves…
The list is way too long.
All of this has been going on for years, decades, centuries…it is even in the Bible…Lot had two children with his two daughters…Incest. Lot whose wife turned into a pilllar of salt.
If you have the the, could you please find that book written in the 1970s and share it with me? Again, I found nothing except the 1993 Unauthorized Biography of Bob Hope written by Grouncho Marx’s son.
Also, for 4 years, we had to hear on TV, Radio and books about Donald Trump/ Russia. Turns out, it was all FALSE.
We hope you get to feeling better, Jeff…and thank you for your honesty.
Ninja;
I went online to Amazon and then ebay and couldn’t find any bio books from the 1970’s which I heard the author on the radio talking about his book. I saw what looke like old books but their was no publishing date. possibly out of print but what the auther said remained in my memory all these years and I even stopped watching his flicks. If I saw a book from the above mentioned books, I would have to buy the book and take a chance if it was the right book. What happened on that hospital ship was remembered by his USO group and that’s it. A small incident in the S. Pacific. He had a contract to perform and the hospital ship wasn’t in his contract since it arrived after hope was already on the island.
I don’t think that anyone would believe that Bob Hope was a saint; however this would be the first I have heard him refusing to do a show for (presumably wounded) troops.
During the Vietnam War Era (60s-70s) there were numerous attacks on Hope’s character in response to his support of the Vietnam War and his own humorous attacks on the leftist communist anti-war movement. These are well documented and while many things were true (he was an open and unapologetic adulterer and possibly a bigamist), many other things were certainly untrue. I would take such things with a healthy dose of salt and without some kind of supporting evidence try not to accuse someone of being a shit bag.
Going to get worse soon. Supply chain is about to take another hit on Dec 9. One of the larger Class I railroads is implementing a vaccine mandate on Dec 8. Rails west of the Mississippi will look like a Southwest terminal.
Secy of Transportation Pete Buttigieg is generally MIA like the rest of the admin. Now he is on maternity leave breastfeeding. Glad nothing of urgency is going on right now.
Yep…as I said before, dont be deceived by pictures of women showing their boobs.
Pete could have those boobs.
😎😉
About ten years ago, Hack and Rosetta Stone we’re attending a wedding in the San Francisco area. Reception was held on a dinner cruise ship. Passing the loading docks of Oakland, Hack was mesmerized by how quickly the ship cranes were able to unload the cargo containers. From the time it took the crane to pick up the container and set it upon the bed of the tractor trailer took about 14 seconds. As soon as that container dropped, the truck pulled away, the crane turned to grab another container, and the next truck was positioned.
Now as to (see what Hack did there?) the backlog in the California ports, there seems to be a plethora of memes going around Facebook stating that California’s new regulations regarding the age of trucks and banning fossil fuel trucks within the next 15 years is discouraging trucking companies from even competing in the California ports. Any truth to that, because Hack ha yet to see a Facebook “fat check” dispute the meme.
Those memes also state that California will require all trucks to be electric by a certain date. TAH has had a few articles regarding the impact electric cars will have on the energy grid, but how many batteries, or how large of a battery would be required to haul a load currently being transported by a diesel fueled tractor trailer? How long would it take to charge one of those trucks, and what would the range be? If you think the logistic chain is dicked up now, just wait until you have 300 tractor trailers lined up to use five charging stations that are available, assuming that California does not have one of their scheduled brown outs. You can expect a lot of the food that purchase to arrive at the supermarket already spoiled. Don’t worry though, you’ll be saving the planet.