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The MSM and the Biden administration are apparently mystified that the prolonged lockdowns of 2020, urban riots and COVID dictates led an aging generation of truckers to hang up their keys.
They also appear unable to connect the dots of how lockdowns, trillions in handouts, and odious restrictions haven’t exactly galvanized potential younger replacements to seek out a career in the trucking industry.
So, as the President last week earned yet another round of ridicule for tweeting that America was experiencing an economic renaissance, in the face of spiraling inflation and a deteriorating job market, does the administration have any solutions, or even temporary fixes?
Biden has reportedly given up on portions of his 3 plus trillion dollar “Build Back Better” spending extravaganza, including nixing free community college and college debt forgiveness.
But what if the Feds offered some college benefits and/or debt forgiveness for young people willing to train and spend a term of service as truckers, or perhaps elsewhere in the supply chain industry?
Or maybe there’s some existent group lurking, with crackerjack logistics and supply movement skills that might be enlisted to step into the breach.
Perhaps a group that has already been used for considerably more trivial purposes, like sleeping on concrete floors in Washington DC parking lots for months on end to allay the fake insurrection fears of Nancy Pelosi and AOC.
If the Biden administration had any sense, they might approach the supply chain crisis with the urgency it deserves, and come up with action.
But they’ve been busy launching FBI inquisitions against grade school parents, and fighting the latest phase of the COVID War: forcing people with natural immunity and/or practically zero risk of serious COVID effects into taking the so-called vaccines.
Check that: Biden has taken some action. He recently ensured that Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigeig has extended leave time during the crisis to experience, along with his husband, the joys of changing diapers.
Trucker Shortage Nearly Doubled Since 2019
Finding new truckers was already a significant problem in 2019, according to Chris Thropp, president of the SAGE Corporation.
Thropp told news station CBS 21 that a shortage of around 60,000 truck drivers was reported in 2019, but that number has since grown to around 100,000 this year.
“There are so many choke points in the supply chain. I don’t know that anybody really knows how long it’s going to take to unwind all of this and hope that it doesn’t grind to a halt.”
A recent Daily Caller article noted that pandemic fueled consumer demands, labor market and business disruptions have created an unprecedented quagmire in the supply chain, and shortage of commercial truck drivers to aid in getting shipping back on track.
According to Thropp:
“There is not a day that goes by that we don’t get a call from a trucking company saying we need drivers, and we’re increasing our pay and we’re making it better from a lifestyle standpoint trying to get people home.”
COVID Policies Continue to Kill Jobs and Hike Costs
In September Americans “voted” on vaccine mandates and other factors by checking out on jobs. CNBC noted:
“Quits hit a new series high going back to December 2000, as 4.3 million workers left their jobs. The quits rate rose to 2.9%, an increase of 242,000 from the previous month, which saw a rate of 2.7%, according to the department’s Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey. The rate, which is measured against total employment, is the highest in a data series that goes back to December 2000.”
There’s no question Americans who happen to be executives at Moderna and Pfizer continue to enjoy an economic nirvana as a result of Biden’s perpetual “jabs for everyone” policy.
But most of those fabled 80 million who voted for Biden were probably expecting the good times to be a little more widespread. Maybe that’s why Biden’s latest poll numbers have dropped to the mid-30’s.
Biden’s vaccine mandates have only created more disruptions at a time when store shelf stocks are getting thinner.
Americans are growing more fed up with ideological extremism masquerading as practical governing policy.
Whether it was shutting down energy pipeline projects and turning the country back into a net energy importer, or obsessing about vaccines for young people at near zero risk and people with natural immunity, Biden has pursued an agenda that has hobbled an economic recovery.
Unfortunately, there’s no end in sight of the supply chain of poor policies.