Severe Shortages

An Industry Insider Just Revealed The Truth About What Is Really Behind The Shortages At Our Local Supermarkets

The supply chain crisis that our supermarkets are facing is far worse than the mainstream media has been telling us.  The mainstream media keeps trying to put a happy face on the “temporary” shortages, but an industry insider has let me know what is really going on behind the scenes.  This particular insider runs a grocery store in Maine, and he says that things are as bad as he has ever seen.  In fact, he says that he has “never seen anything close to what is happening now”.  The email that he sent me the other day greatly alarmed me, and I asked him if I could share it with all of you.  He gave me permission to do so, as long as I didn’t use his name.  I haven’t received an email this startling in a long time.  As you read this email, I think that you will quickly understand why I am saying that…

I’m self employed for 25 years, now, independent IGA affiliated grocery store in coastal Maine.

Supply issues are real! My supplier has limited us on orders for about a month now (limited the physical number of cases we can order)

Their issue is/was mainly the help crisis in their warehouse … order pickers and truck drivers. Same story everywhere, I know. Many of the items your reader commented about in this article are the same here … very limited gatorade, and gallon water is sketchy at best. Sometimes we get it, sometimes we don’t. I’ve not seen many supply issues in produce, rather poor quality issues there. Much more than normal. Deli / bakery … yes, lots of out of stocks and “long term unavailable” as my supplier likes to word it on the invoice.

In the center store – dry grocery … like others are saying, tons of out of stocks.

Meat supply is “fair” but pricing is extremely high. Shockingly high to me. The middle class is slowly being destroyed with these prices hikes … death by 1000 cuts of sorts, I guess.

My Frito Lay delivery person tells me that he is getting 55-60% of what he’s ordering. My last Nabisco order had 30% out of stocks. Over the years, we always get 99-100% of what was ordered. Pepperidge Farm Cookies … he tells me some weeks he’s only getting HALF of what he orders. These folks all work on commission …. if they don’t (or can’t) sell it to me … they don’t get paid. Or get paid less. When we place our liquor order (twice a week) out of stocks there are running 30% most orders. This commodity was ALWAYS 99.5 to 100% fill rate over the years …. always.

It’s frustrating. As I said … self employed 25 years, and worked for Kroger for 25 years before that … so 50-51 years in this business.

Never seen anything close to what is happening now. Add to that — a far left governor, and both houses here in Maine democrat controlled …. I just know we are on the verge of another mask mandate, and a lock down of sorts would not surprise me again as we move into the colder months. As you’ve seen I’m sure, Maine is in the news with COVID case surges (so they say)

I come to work every day just holding my breath for what is next … for our business and the 35 people I employ here in Maine.

This industry insider is trying to order normal quantities, but his suppliers are often unable to completely fulfill them.

As you can see from the email, the shortages are widespread, and this is the worst that they have been during the entire pandemic so far.

If there is something that you need to stock up on, I would grab it if it is still on the shelves, because pretty soon it may be completely gone.

On Friday I went to the grocery store and they were out of several things that I wanted to purchase.  Unfortunately, we continue to get more confirmations that this is going to become the “new normal”.

For example, according to Bloomberg meat reserves in this country have plunged to dangerously low levels…

A U.S. report Wednesday showed beef reserves down 7.7% from a year ago in August. Poultry supplies slumped 20% and pork bellies, which are sliced into bacon, dropped 44% to the lowest levels since 2017.

In most cases supermarkets still have meat on the shelves, but it is definitely a lot more expensive than it used to be, and we are being told to brace ourselves for more price hikes in the months ahead.

Of course other types of retailers are facing severe supply shocks as well.  A few days ago, another reader sent me an email in which he described what he is seeing at his local pharmacy…

The big issue, however, is at the local drug store; Rite Aid. The place is thin at best and stripped in some areas (last week there was no Zinc available). The beer cases are notably sparse. The main issue, however, is at the pharmacy. Six or eight months ago you could walk in and have your prescription filled inside of 20 minutes. If you called in the prescription the day before it was waiting for you. Not so any more. Yesterday I went to pick up an RX for my wife that had been called in last week. Not only was it not ready but I had to wait an hour before it was filled. There were nine cars in the drive up queue. I opted to walk in and it was nearly as bad. The young woman that helped me was clearly not local with bicolor hair and a large, glaringly obvious, in your face, Baphomet symbol around her neck.

I had a chat with the manager on the way out and asked him what was up with the Pharmacy staffing. I hadn’t seen the regular pharmacist for a few months. He blamed it all on the city for not having any affordable housing (lame) and mentioned that Albertson’s pharmacy, Albertson’s and Ridley’s were all very short on help (true).

Right now, dozens and dozens of drugs are in short supply.

In fact, the official FDA drug shortage list has 149 entries on it right now.

That is the most that I have ever seen.

As shortages persist, retailers are going to start implementing more limits.  Last week, we learned that Costco has already started to pull the trigger…

Costco on Thursday said it was reinstating limits on purchases of toilet paper, paper towels and bottled water.

They don’t call it “rationing”, but that is essentially what it is.

And we are also being told to expect significant price increases, because supply chain issues are causing costs to go through the roof…

Costco this week joined the long list of retailers sounding the alarm about escalating shipping prices and the accompanying supply chain issues. The warehouse retailer, which had a similar cautionary tone in May, was joined by athletic wear giant Nike and economic bellwethers FedEx and General Mills in discussing similar concerns.

The cost to ship containers overseas has soared in recent months. Getting a 40-foot container from Shanghai to New York cost about $2,000 a year and a half ago, just before the Covid pandemic. Now, it runs some $16,000, according to Bank of America.

I have been warning that rampant inflation and shortages were coming for a long time, but a lot of people didn’t want to believe me at first.

If you were one of those doubters, do you believe me now?

During the first half of this year, many economic optimists assured us that the U.S. economy would be “booming” by this point.

But instead our economic infrastructure is being shaken on a very basic level, and we are facing enormous price hikes and very painful shortages throughout the rest of this year and into next year.

Events have begun to slide out of control, and it certainly wouldn’t take too much to push us into a full-blown avalanche.

***It is finally here! Michael’s new book entitled “7 Year Apocalypse” is now available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.***

About the Author: My name is Michael Snyder and my brand new book entitled “7 Year Apocalypse” is now available on Amazon.com.  In addition to my new book I have written five other books that are available on Amazon.com including  “Lost Prophecies Of The Future Of America”, “The Beginning Of The End”, “Get Prepared Now”, and “Living A Life That Really Matters”. (#CommissionsEarned)  By purchasing the books you help to support the work that my wife and I are doing, and by giving it to others you help to multiply the impact that we are having on people all over the globe.  I have published thousands of articles on The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News, and the articles that I publish on those sites are republished on dozens of other prominent websites all over the globe.  I always freely and happily allow others to republish my articles on their own websites, but I also ask that they include this “About the Author” section with each article.  The material contained in this article is for general information purposes only, and readers should consult licensed professionals before making any legal, business, financial or health decisions.  I encourage you to follow me on social media on Facebook and Twitter, and any way that you can share these articles with others is a great help.  During these very challenging times, people will need hope more than ever before, and it is our goal to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with as many people as we possibly can.

The Mainstream Media Is Using Terms Like “Worsening” And “Foreseeable Future” To Describe The Shortages

Yes, these shortages are really happening, and now the mainstream media is warning us to brace ourselves because they are going to get even worse.  After the article that I posted yesterday, emails came pouring in from people all around the country.  There were a few that didn’t want to believe that things are as bad as I was saying, but there were lots of other emails that confirmed that conditions are at least as bad as I described.  In fact, there was one extremely alarming email from someone that works in the supermarket industry that I hope to share with all of you in the coming days once I get permission to do so.

For most of us, we have lived our entire lives without ever having to be concerned about shortages.  In fact, just a few years ago it would have seemed crazy to suggest that we were on the verge of widespread shortages here in the United States.

But now here we are, and we are being told that the shortages are going to continue to intensify.  In fact, the Washington Post is telling us that the global chip shortage is showing signs of “worsening”…

The global semiconductor shortage that has paralyzed automakers for nearly a year shows signs of worsening, as new coronavirus infections halt chip assembly lines in Southeast Asia, forcing more car companies and electronics manufacturers to suspend production.

A wave of delta-variant cases in Malaysia, Vietnam and the Philippines is causing production delays at factories that cut and package semiconductors, creating new bottlenecks on top of those caused by soaring demand for chips.

That is really bad news, because the chip shortage is affecting thousands of other industries.

For example, global vehicle production is way down due to the chip crisis, and this has resulted in a growing shortage of new vehicles on dealer lots all over the nation…

The chip famine is starving the global auto industry and putting car buyers on a strict diet. So far this year, seven million cars that were supposed to be produced haven’t been, according to IHS Markit data. Auto companies are shutting down production lines for weeks at a time and furloughing employees as a result of the chip shortage. Toyota has slashed its production 40% in September.

All this is hitting consumers. Car dealers’ lots across the U.S. are sparse. The inventory of new cars in the U.S. is only about 30% of pre-pandemic levels, and buyers snap up used cars as soon as they find them.

Of course we aren’t facing a shortage of everything.

There are certain products that are still quite plentiful.

And there are some areas that are being affected a lot more than others.

So what you are seeing in your neck of the woods may differ from what other people are experiencing.

But there are some shortages that are definitely being felt all over the country.

When the COVID pandemic first started to sweep across the U.S. last year, it sparked a huge run on toilet paper, and now it is starting to happen again…

Costco Wholesale is having trouble fulfilling toilet paper orders.

The membership-only warehouse retail chain is issuing a warning to customers that have purchased the common household item online, saying they may face delays in receiving their orders.

Unfortunately, this could potentially be just the beginning.

According to one expert that was interviewed by Fox Business, there will soon be another “massive shortage” of toilet paper…

The U.S. will experience another “massive shortage” of toilet paper soon as supply chains continue to suffer due to pandemic-related issues, one retail expert warned.

“Product shortages as bad as they were in the beginning of COVID are coming back,” Burt Flickinger said on FOX Business’ “Mornings with Maria.”

Did you ever imagine that we would be talking about such a thing in late 2021?

A lot of optimists out there had assumed that the economy would be “booming” by now.

But instead, the machinery of our economy has gotten gummed up really badly.  At this point, there is even a growing shortage of alcoholic beverages…

The Pennsylvania state board in charge of consumer liquor sales announced last week that it was limiting customers to two bottles of certain alcoholic beverages per day. The Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board said the purchase limit on select items — including Hennessy Cognac, Buffalo Trace bourbon and Patrón tequila — will be in place for the “foreseeable future.”

Liquor store customers in North Carolina are encountering “out of stock” signs instead of their favorite spirits, local TV station WTVD reported, amid an ongoing supply shortage there, too.

Of course so many of these problems could be solved if we simply had enough workers.

As I discussed the other day, we are in the midst of the worst labor shortage that we have ever experienced.  All over the nation critical labor shortages are crippling the ability of organizations to get things done, and now Joe Biden’s new mandates threaten to make things a lot worse.

If you can believe it, even NPR is running stories about how Biden’s mandates are going to cause gigantic headaches for employers…

“I can’t afford to lose anyone,” says Ted LeNeave, CEO of Accura HealthCare, which operates 34 nursing homes and assisted living facilities in Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska and South Dakota. Because of staffing shortages, they’ve had to limit admissions, turning down patients coming from hospitals.

With about 1,000 of his employees — 38% of his workforce — unvaccinated, LeNeave is calling on the federal government to provide a testing option for health care workers.

Sadly, if Biden does not change his approach, that one company alone will have to let about a thousand workers go…

“I just don’t see how I can lay off a thousand people,” says LeNeave. “I’d have no one to take care of the patients, and there’s nowhere to send the patients.”

Biden’s mandates should start going into effect around the end of the year, and that could represent a real turning point for the economy.

We are moving into such troubled times, but most people desperately want to believe that better times are just around the corner.

Through good times and bad, the U.S. economy has always been highly resilient, and most of us would like to assume that it will continue to be highly resilient.

But the truth is that things are starting to break down on a very basic level, and the outlook as we head toward the end of the year is not good at all.

***It is finally here! Michael’s new book entitled “7 Year Apocalypse” is now available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.***

About the Author: My name is Michael Snyder and my brand new book entitled “7 Year Apocalypse” is now available on Amazon.com.  In addition to my new book I have written five other books that are available on Amazon.com including  “Lost Prophecies Of The Future Of America”, “The Beginning Of The End”, “Get Prepared Now”, and “Living A Life That Really Matters”. (#CommissionsEarned)  By purchasing the books you help to support the work that my wife and I are doing, and by giving it to others you help to multiply the impact that we are having on people all over the globe.  I have published thousands of articles on The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News, and the articles that I publish on those sites are republished on dozens of other prominent websites all over the globe.  I always freely and happily allow others to republish my articles on their own websites, but I also ask that they include this “About the Author” section with each article.  The material contained in this article is for general information purposes only, and readers should consult licensed professionals before making any legal, business, financial or health decisions.  I encourage you to follow me on social media on Facebook and Twitter, and any way that you can share these articles with others is a great help.  During these very challenging times, people will need hope more than ever before, and it is our goal to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with as many people as we possibly can.

Before They Were An Inconvenience, But Now The Shortages Are Really Beginning To Sting

Have you noticed that store shelves are starting to get emptier and emptier?  During the panic shopping that was sparked by the start of the COVID pandemic in 2020, there were very intense shortages of certain items, but those shortages did not last very long at all.  But now there are widespread shortages in just about every sector of our economy, and they are starting to become quite painful.  Unfortunately, we are being told to expect the shortages to intensify as we head into the holiday season.  That is extremely alarming, because in many areas the shortages are already quite severe.

I had been away from the news for a couple of days, and when I came back there were lots more stories about our ongoing shortages.  For example, the following comes from an excellent piece by Matt Stoller…

There are shortages in everything from ocean shipping containers to chlorine tablets to railroad capacity to black pipe (the piping that houses wires inside buildings) to spicy chicken breasts to specialized plastic bags necessary for making vaccines. Moreover, prices for all sorts of items, from housing to food, are changing in weird ways. Beef, for instance, is at near record highs for consumers, but cattle ranchers are getting paid much less than they used to for their cows.

In my entire life, I have never seen anything like this.

Even the Federal Reserve is admitting that we have a major problem at this point.  In fact, in the latest Beige Book the Fed referred to the shortages a whopping 80 times.

In certain parts of the country, these shortages are really beginning to sting.  A reader just emailed me about what is going on in his section of Connecticut, and he said that I could share this with all of you…

I am just a regular guy in Connecticut, who has been watching things very closely, especially from a Biblical perspective. I wanted to quickly share with you an experience my wife and I had about two weeks ago at a medium-size, family run grocery store near Waterbury, CT.

Seemingly overnight, we noticed there were little yellow signs on the shelves, where certain SKUs used to be. Not entire lines, but individual SKUs. For example, a flavor of oatmeal, certain cereals, etc. The signs said something to the effect of: “This item is no longer available due to supply chain constraints”. I would say there were a few hundred signs in total throughout the store. It wasn’t until we got to the juice/water aisle that we noticed the larger problem: there was no Gatorade (?) and no bottled water (gallon jugs).

I have befriended the manager over the years, so I asked him where the water is, and he told me “…they only will give us so many bottles”. I asked who ‘they’ is, and he said the manufacturer: they were being rationed. As he said this, a truck driver happened to walk by and joined in on the conversation. He told us that he just got back from Maine, after a three-day trip- a trip that normally takes him a few hours. He said he, and all of the other truck drivers, sit at the warehouses for days, waiting for their trucks to be filled. To be clear, I asked him how long it normally takes, and he said a few hours at the most.

On our way out, I remembered that we needed dog food, so we went to the pet aisle, and there was no cat litter, and no dog food, save a few little bags of the cheapest stuff. All of the things Steve Quayle has been saying about food and water shortages suddenly became reality. I always believed him, but now I was seeing it, at the very local level.

We then decided to go to PetSmart to get the dog food. Empty. The entire dog food shelf was empty except for a few bags!

Are similar things happening in your part of the country?

If so, please feel free to email me and let me know.

We need to share intel with one another, because the mainstream media is not telling us the truth.

Of course the shortages would not be as severe if we could actually unload all of the container ships that are backlogged at our ports.  Right now, dozens of container ships are sitting along the west coast waiting to be unloaded…

The number of container ships at anchor or drifting in San Pedro Bay off the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach has blown through all previous records.

The latest peak: There were an all-time-high 73 container ships in the queue in San Pedro Bay on Sunday, according to the Marine Exchange of Southern California (the tally inched back to 69 on Tuesday). Of the ships offshore Sunday, 36 were forced to drift because anchorages were full.

Theoretically, the numbers — already surreally high — could go even higher than this. While designated anchorages are limited, the space for ships to safely drift offshore is not.

This is the same problem that I talked about the other day.

At one time we had more able-bodied workers than we knew what to do with, but now there is an extreme shortage of workers all over the globe.

Sadly, it has gotten to a point where we don’t even have enough people to drive our kids to school…

School districts around the country are struggling to fill thousands of bus driver positions as worker shortages lead to late arrivals and last-minute scrambles to bring retired workers back onto payrolls.

The shortages are so bad in some places that districts are taking extraordinary steps to get kids to school as students return to in-person classes this fall. Philadelphia’s school district will pay families $300 a month, or $3,000 for the year, to opt out of transportation services and get their kids to school on their own. Albemarle County Public Schools in Virginia is offering a $2,500 bonus to new drivers — $100 more than the school district in the county seat, Charlottesville, is offering.

This is the worst labor shortage that the U.S. has ever faced, and it just keeps getting worse.

So where did all the people go?

Without enough able-bodied workers, our economy is experiencing a whole host of difficulties right now.  And when you consider everything else that has been going on, it shouldn’t be a surprise that Joe Biden’s approval rating just sunk to a new record low…

Eight months after President Joe Biden’s inauguration, his job approval rating has fallen six percentage points to 43%, the lowest of his presidency. For the first time, a majority, 53%, now disapproves of Biden’s performance.

These findings are from a Sept. 1-17 Gallup poll that was conducted after the U.S. military evacuated more than 120,000 people from Afghanistan. The United States’ exit from the nation’s longest war was marred by the Taliban’s quick takeover of most of the country and a suicide bombing at the airport in Kabul, which killed 13 U.S. service members. Over the same period, COVID-19 infection rates, nationally, were surging, leading to hospital overflows in some regions.

And there are some parts of the nation where his approval rating is absolutely disastrous.  Just check out the latest numbers from Iowa…

Just 31% of Iowans approved of how Joe Biden is handling his duties as president while a whopping 62% disapprove. Biden’s disapproval number is below the lowest ever measured by ace pollster J. Ann Selzer for former presidents Donald Trump (35%) and Barack Obama (36%).

“This is a bad poll for Joe Biden, and it’s playing out in everything that he touches right now,” Selzer told the Des Moines Register.

Less than a year ago, a lot of Americans were viewing Biden as some sort of a “savior” figure.

That didn’t exactly work out, did it?

Many of us have been warning that shortages and high levels of inflation were coming for a very long time, but of course most of the population is not interested in such warnings.

They just want to be told that everything is going to be okay.

But the truth is that everything is not going to be okay, and the pain that we have experienced so far is just the beginning.

***It is finally here! Michael’s new book entitled “7 Year Apocalypse” is now available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.***

About the Author: My name is Michael Snyder and my brand new book entitled “7 Year Apocalypse” is now available on Amazon.com.  In addition to my new book I have written five other books that are available on Amazon.com including  “Lost Prophecies Of The Future Of America”, “The Beginning Of The End”, “Get Prepared Now”, and “Living A Life That Really Matters”. (#CommissionsEarned)  By purchasing the books you help to support the work that my wife and I are doing, and by giving it to others you help to multiply the impact that we are having on people all over the globe.  I have published thousands of articles on The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News, and the articles that I publish on those sites are republished on dozens of other prominent websites all over the globe.  I always freely and happily allow others to republish my articles on their own websites, but I also ask that they include this “About the Author” section with each article.  The material contained in this article is for general information purposes only, and readers should consult licensed professionals before making any legal, business, financial or health decisions.  I encourage you to follow me on social media on Facebook and Twitter, and any way that you can share these articles with others is a great help.  During these very challenging times, people will need hope more than ever before, and it is our goal to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with as many people as we possibly can.

The Shortages Are Global, And We Are Being Warned That They Will Intensify

The global economy was supposed to be getting back to “normal” by now, but instead more problems are erupting with each passing day.  As I write this article, supply chains all over the planet are in a state of chaos.  The worldwide computer chip shortage is making things very difficult for thousands upon thousands of manufacturers, the process of moving products across our oceans has become insanely expensive and is often plagued by horrendous delays, and a lack of truck drivers is causing enormous headaches when it comes to transporting goods to retailers and consumers in a timely manner.  We have never seen anything like this before, and at this point even CNN is admitting that “the disruption to global supply chains is getting worse”…

The vast network of ports, container vessels and trucking companies that moves goods around the world is badly tangled, and the cost of shipping is skyrocketing. That’s troubling news for retailers and holiday shoppers.

More than 18 months into the pandemic, the disruption to global supply chains is getting worse, spurring shortages of consumer products and making it more expensive for companies to ship goods where they’re needed.

Earlier this year, some of the economic optimists were projecting that we would experience a tremendous “economic boom” during the second half of 2021.

But now we are facing empty shelves, shortages and major headaches in the months ahead.

One shipping executive that was interviewed by CNN says that things won’t get any better until “the first quarter of 2022 at the earliest”…

Shipping companies expect the global crunch to continue. That’s massively increasing the cost of moving cargo and could add to the upward pressure on consumer prices.

“We currently expect the market situation only to ease in the first quarter of 2022 at the earliest,” Hapag-Lloyd chief executive Rolf Habben Jansen said in a recent statement.

Here in the U.S., quite a few experts are now making very bleak predictions about the upcoming holiday season.

But we are definitely not alone.  Over in the UK, it is being reported that the “worst supply-chain crisis since the 1970s” could potentially “ruin Christmas”.

One of the big problems that the British are facing is an unprecedented shortage of truck drivers and warehouse workers.  Business leaders are begging for more EU workers to be allowed into the country, because they believe that will help to alleviate the crisis.

Empty shelves and shortages are now a daily reality in the UK, and some large fast food chains are now being forced to completely drop certain items from their menus…

Gaps on supermarket shelves have been spotted across the country due to a combination of factors, including lorry driver shortages and Covid.

Supplier issues have also led to shortages at fast food chains like McDonald’s, Nandos and KFC, with some items missing from menus and branches closed.

Greggs is the latest to say that it’s short on food faves and Costa Coffee has reduced its menu due to the supply chain chaos.

Could you imagine going into a McDonald’s and not being able to order a milkshake?

Sadly, that has now become a reality at every single location in the United Kingdom…

McDonald’s says it has pulled milkshakes from the menu in all 1,250 of its British restaurants because of supply problems stemming from a shortage of truck drivers.

The fast-food chain says it is also experiencing shortages of bottled drinks.

Here in the United States, we are dealing with similar issues.

At this point, it is being reported that finding new truck drivers to hire in this country is “next to impossible”…

Finding truck drivers is “next to impossible,” he said, while freight costs are rising daily. The company’s orders are arriving late and consequently facing delays in being sent to customers. On the outbound side, on-time deliveries are still above 50% but have fallen from the usual rate of more than 90%.

“We all thought it would be over by now. It’s just one thing after another,” he said. “This is going to be the norm for a while.”

For decades, we have been taking our truck drivers for granted.  We pay them poorly, we treat them like dirt, and we make them work ridiculously long hours.

But without truck drivers, our country simply cannot function.

These days, most young people don’t want jobs that require a lot of hard, physical work and that don’t pay very well.  Instead, they would rather make money producing Tik Tok videos or becoming Instagram influencers.

Traditionally, truck drivers have been strong, physical men with traditional values.  Of course our society likes to demonize such individuals these days, but maybe this crisis will get everyone to understand that we actually need them.

Even if we had enough truck drivers, we would still be facing a wide range of shortages because of the global shortage of computer chips…

A global shortage of computer chips is causing major headaches for American manufacturers.

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused the disruption of supply chains and manufacturing the world over. Manufacturers of computer chips in Asia have been especially hard hit. And that means companies that make products that rely on such chips are feeling the pinch.

As I have warned previously, the computer chip shortage is causing massive headaches for thousands of other industries.

We should have never become so dependent on chip production from Asia, and now we are paying a great price.

Yesterday, I discussed the fact that Kamala Harris is warning parents to buy their Christmas presents now because of the severe shortages that are looming on the horizon.

On Fox News, contributor Leo Terrell said that this “sounds like a very dangerous warning sign”…

Fox News contributor Leo Terrell expressed concern on “Fox & Friends” Tuesday that Democrats are aiming to shut down the U.S. economy again after Vice President Kamala Harris advised shoppers to consider buying Christmas presents now due to global supply chain issues.

LEO TERRELL: That scares me because that sounds like shutdown, that sounds like we’re going to expect that the economy is going to basically be locked down again. And that’s frightening. Again, the Democrats have used the pandemic to control Americans. And basically that sounds like a very dangerous warning sign.

Yes, I would definitely categorize her statement as a “warning sign”.

This is not going to be a “normal” holiday season.

And 2022 will definitely not be “normal” either.

We have moved into crazy times, and they are only going to get crazier.

A lot of people didn’t want to listen to warnings from people like me at first, but now seeing empty shelves and shortages is starting to wake some of them up.

Our economic infrastructure is being shaken, and many are starting to realize that the “invincible” U.S. economy is not actually so invincible after all.

***It is finally here! Michael’s new book entitled “7 Year Apocalypse” is now available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.***

About the Author: My name is Michael Snyder and my brand new book entitled “7 Year Apocalypse” is now available on Amazon.com.  In addition to my new book I have written five others that are available on Amazon.com including  “Lost Prophecies Of The Future Of America”, “The Beginning Of The End”, “Get Prepared Now”, and “Living A Life That Really Matters”. (#CommissionsEarned)  By purchasing the books you help to support the work that my wife and I are doing, and by giving it to others you help to multiply the impact that we are having on people all over the globe.  I have published thousands of articles on The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News, and the articles that I publish on those sites are republished on dozens of other prominent websites all over the globe.  I always freely and happily allow others to republish my articles on their own websites, but I also ask that they include this “About the Author” section with each article.  The material contained in this article is for general information purposes only, and readers should consult licensed professionals before making any legal, business, financial or health decisions.  I encourage you to follow me on social media on Facebook and Twitter, and any way that you can share these articles with others is a great help.  During these very challenging times, people will need hope more than ever before, and it is our goal to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with as many people as we possibly can.

Empty Shelves, Severe Shortages And Widespread Crop Failures Are Ahead In The Fall Of 2021

The overall mood of the nation is becoming increasingly sour with each passing day.  The pandemic seems like it is never going to end, the drama unfolding in Afghanistan is one of the greatest embarrassments in modern American history, and Joe Biden’s approval rating is sinking like a rock as it becomes clear that he is completely and utterly incompetent.  Unfortunately, average Americans will soon have even more to be stressed out about.  As we head into the fall months, our store shelves are going to be getting emptier, shortages of products will become more widespread, and it looks like we could potentially have a very bad harvest season.

I realize that I packed a lot of really bad news into that paragraph, and some of you may be tempted to think that I am exaggerating.

So let me take this one step at a time.  First, I would like to talk about crop failures.  According to the Department of Agriculture, 63 percent of all U.S. spring wheat is in “poor or very poor condition”.  Last year at this time, that number was sitting at just 6 percent…

Extreme heat is baking most of the U.S. North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa and Nebraska all contain areas of extreme drought, according to data from the U.S. Drought Monitor. North Dakota and Minnesota, in particular, are experiencing near-record lows in soil moisture, according to data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

As a result, many crops planted this spring are wilting. Some 63% of the U.S. spring wheat crop is in poor or very poor condition, versus 6% at this time last year, according to Agriculture Department data.

So does this mean that agricultural production will be below expectations?

Yes.

In fact, the USDA is now projecting that levels of corn, wheat and soybeans will all be “at their lowest level since 2013”…

The poor weather has caused the USDA to scale back its expectations for U.S. crop production in 2021—which, in turn, is causing domestic inventories to dwindle. In the USDA’s latest monthly supply and demand report, the agency pegged ending stocks for corn, wheat, and soybeans all at their lowest level since 2013.

Of course this comes at a time when we are also seeing crop failures in other key areas all over the globe.

For example, we are currently witnessing one of the worst droughts that South America has ever experienced.  Agricultural production has been absolutely devastated in Brazil, Argentina, and elsewhere, and this is going to have a huge impact all over the planet.

What this means is that global hunger is going to continue to grow rapidly, and this is extremely bad news because global hunger has already been rising at an extremely aggressive rate…

Earlier this month, the humanitarian organization Oxfam released alarming statistics that measured the state of the food crisis after one year of the pandemic. Every minute, eleven people on the planet die of hunger. The number of people experiencing famine-like conditions globally has increased by six times in the past year.

Many Americans may not care about starving people on the other side of the globe, but they are going to care very much when their Christmas celebrations “are ruined” because of severe shortages in the stores.

While she was in Singapore this week, Kamala Harris specifically warned us about what is coming…

“The stories that we are now hearing about the caution that if you want to have Christmas toys for your children, it might now be might be the time to start buying them, because the delay may be many, many months,” she said.

“So across the board, people are experiencing the issue. And, of course, the climate crisis is fueling a lot of this. When we look at the stronger typhoons that have disrupted shipping lanes and sea-level rise, which threatens port infrastructure as an example. So these are the many issues that are causing these disruptions,” Harris said.

Wow.

When Kamala Harris starts sounding just like The Economic Collapse Blog, then you know that it is really late in the game.

Even now, empty shelves and widespread shortages are being reported all over the nation.  Susan Duclos over at ANP has done an excellent job of documenting what is going on out there.  People from around the country have been sending photos to her, and this has helped her readers to understand that this is not a phenomenon that is just limited to a few areas.

Unfortunately, this is just the beginning.

The holiday season is expected to greatly exacerbate the shortages, and it is being reported that “new problems are arising weekly”…

Grocery-store chains are still battling supply challenges that some executives said are as bad as what they saw in spring 2020, when hoarding left holes in stocks of some staples.

Industry executives say new problems are arising weekly, driven by shortages of labor and raw materials. Groceries including frozen waffles and beverages remain scarce as some food companies anticipate disruptions lasting into 2022. A wider range of products is running short and logistical challenges are compounding for many retailers.

Grocery stores are ordering more food like crazy, but we have gotten to a point where the largest U.S. food distributors simply cannot fulfill all of the orders…

According to Bloomberg, some of the largest U.S. food distributors are “reporting difficulties in fulfilling orders as a lack of workers weighs on the supply chain.” Take distribution giant Sysco, North America’s largest wholesale food distributor, which is turning away customers in some areas where demand is exceeding capacity.

Worse, food inflation is about to soar: the company said prices for key goods such as chicken, pork and paper products for takeout packaging are climbing amid tight supplies. In particular, production has slowed for high-demand, labor-intensive cuts like bacon, ribs, wings and tenders, Sysco said. And if intermediate and final wholesale prices are “rising”, just wait until they emerge on the consumer side.

Needless to say, my regular readers are not surprised by any of this, because they were warned in advance that all of this was coming.

But for most of the U.S. population, the new reality that we are entering into will come as a major shock.

They had been promised a new golden era of prosperity, but instead what they are going to get is a nightmare.

***It is finally here! Michael’s new book entitled “7 Year Apocalypse” is now available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.***

About the Author: My name is Michael Snyder and my brand new book entitled “7 Year Apocalypse” is now available on Amazon.com.  In addition to my new book I have written five others that are available on Amazon.com including  “Lost Prophecies Of The Future Of America”, “The Beginning Of The End”, “Get Prepared Now”, and “Living A Life That Really Matters”. (#CommissionsEarned)  By purchasing the books you help to support the work that my wife and I are doing, and by giving it to others you help to multiply the impact that we are having on people all over the globe.  I have published thousands of articles on The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News, and the articles that I publish on those sites are republished on dozens of other prominent websites all over the globe.  I always freely and happily allow others to republish my articles on their own websites, but I also ask that they include this “About the Author” section with each article.  The material contained in this article is for general information purposes only, and readers should consult licensed professionals before making any legal, business, financial or health decisions.  I encourage you to follow me on social media on Facebook and Twitter, and any way that you can share these articles with others is a great help.  During these very challenging times, people will need hope more than ever before, and it is our goal to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with as many people as we possibly can.