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"Welcome To The 'New Normal': This Is Going To Be
A Holiday Season That None Of Us Will Ever Forget"
by Epic Economist
"Americans are facing a nightmare that seems to have no end. Every time people think conditions are starting to improve, something happens and we get back to square one. At the beginning of this year, the federal government assured the population that the economy would be booming by the end of 2021, but that turned out to be a big fat lie. Instead, what we have is the worst inflation since the 1970s, the most epic supply chain crisis in the history of the United States, and nationwide supply shortages that are threatening to undermine our traditions this holiday season.
In fact, this is going to be the "new normal" holiday season, and you have to set your expectations very low, otherwise, you'll probably get bitterly disappointed. The upcoming holidays will not be like what most people have grown accustomed to, but our leaders and the corporate elites are still trying to make things sound better than they actually are. The corporate media is already encouraging us to look "on the bright side," because as opposed to last year, in 2021, we won't have to "cancel Thanksgiving," even though shortages continue to plague most of our stores and supermarkets.
The truth is that the shortages we experienced last year have only gotten worse and more widespread this year, despite the fact that every government "expert" said in 2020 that this crisis would be long gone by now. A recent survey exposes that product availability for this year's Thanksgiving is far lower than during the same period last year. According to Krishnakumar Davey, president of IRI's strategic analytics practice, the survey used point-of-sales data and e-commerce transactions to track weekly store stock rates. It highlighted that retailers typically have a roughly 95% in-stock rate overall. But this year, stores aren't anywhere close to that.
For those who still remember the "good old days", an era of abundance and fair, affordable prices, these holiday shortages will be exceedingly painful. We might not see such days again for decades to come. To make things worse, there's also a shortage of Christmas trees. Recent reports revealed that the U.S. is now facing a significant shortage of both real and fake Christmas trees, and anyone planning on purchasing a tree this year, should act fast before they run out. Of course, a Christmas tree shortage is not the end of the world.
We can definitely survive without most of these items. However, if anything, these extensive shortages and price hikes highlight our leaders' utter incompetence to ease the impacts of the crisis we faced throughout the year, including disasters sparked by extreme weather and the supply chain crisis that has been affecting every aspect of our society, even our traditions. At this stage, even Goldman Sachs is publicly acknowledging that the inflation crisis is going to be further aggravated in the coming months. We're in the middle of one of the most devastating inflation crises this country has ever had, and our society is becoming increasingly restless.
Our population is just now realizing that inflation will stay at record-highs for much longer than what our politicians and policymakers have promised. In short, with living expenses relentlessly going up, Americans are losing their trust in the federal government. Inflation is downgrading our living standards at the same time it boosts price growth like never before. We definitely have a lot of bad news out there. But it could be much worse. One "positive" thing that happened recently was the official suspension of the implementation and enforcement of the OSHA vaccine mandate. However, as litigation proceeds, the verdict could still change in the future. At least for now, millions of jobs have been saved, and the U.S. economy has avoided an absolutely crushing blow.
That's probably the first smart choice our leaders have made in a very long time. Of course, it's in their best interest to keep people in their jobs during the most important season of the year. They don't want to be seen as the ones who "ruined" the holidays for us. But we all know that we're here because of them, and much of this chaos could have been prevented if they have acted intelligently a long time ago. But let's not get ahead of ourselves, because it doesn't mean that this is all over. They lied to us before, and they are probably lying to us right now. The truth is that this is going to be a painful holiday season none of us will ever forget.
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