Empty shelves and high prices : Americans who are spoiled
for consumption are having a new experience: They sometimes wait weeks for
clothes, toys and electronics, even everyday products such as diapers are in
short supply. At the wholesaler Costco, toilet paper, water bottles and
cleaning products have recently been rationed again - just like in the early
days of the pandemic. Large retailers such as Household Depot and Target are
now chartering their own ships in order to be able to deliver goods in time for
the Christmas season. At the same time, inflation is at its highest level in a
decade. Consumers pay extra for food and energy in particular. Within a year,
prices rose 5.4 percent, new US government figures show.
Analysts believe that many of these problems could last
until the end of next year, or even 2023. The supply chain crisis will
"get worse before it gets better," warned Moody's Analytics this week.
"There are interruptions in the supply chains at every turn, which is
hindering the global economic recovery," the experts said.
Trade war
with China is an additional threat
The longer the crisis lasts, the more Biden comes under
pressure. Domestic political successes have become rare: the president has been
fighting for an infrastructure package for months. But his own party is
blocking the reform in Congress . In addition, it was his administration, above
all US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, that dampened inflation worries after
the stimulus in the spring. Biden emphasized at the time that higher prices
were only a temporary phenomenon.
Even the IMF now assumes that the problems will not resolve
anytime soon. Because the cause of the bottlenecks, the pandemic, has by no
means been tackled: the stubborn delta variant throws previous forecasts upside
down, and vaccines are still unevenly distributed between industrialized
nations and poorer countries.
Biden also experiences headwinds from the economy. He is
pursuing a tough protectionist course - to the displeasure of many industries.
The US government broadcasted last week that it would maintain the punitive
tariffs against China for the time being . The largest associations from the
manufacturing industry responded with several fire letters. The supply chain
crisis will be "exacerbated" by the punitive tariffs, it is said in a
letter, the trade war "damages the competitiveness of US manufacturers and
slows down the recovery of the US economy".
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