[jimjamuser]

Originally Posted by Ptmckiou

1. Supply Inflation - Since 90% of our supplies are manufactured by China, and they have been shutting thr country down every time someone gets COVID the past several years, it shuts down manufacturing and shipping, This causes months of delays, so IF there are still Widget A in stock in the USA, the price climbs because there are few of them and no guarantee of when we will bet more. Solution…bring manufacturing back to USA p, BUT not so fast. Workers in in China make A lot less than workers in USA, so that would send the prices of our products even more. No easy solution.

2. When FEDs raise interest rates, then when banks loan money it costs the consumer more for that product (aka mortgages, etc). Thereby, consumers stop purchasing those products and the prices then have to drop to compete with the shrinking group of purchasers that can still afford to purchase. It slows down the economic engine, so prices have to come down to try an attract buyers that have been pushed out of the market. It’s a fine line…reduce consumer spending without pushing the econ9my into a recession. The number to watch is unemployment. There has never been a recession with low unemployment. People are working, so we aren’t in a recession. If unemployment goes from 3% to 5%: then long term hurt on the horizon. So farm things are looking very good…gas is down, and some other prices down. It’s working.

3. Take responsibility for yourself. No one forced anyone to take drugs. Not even your doctor. Several times I’ve had doctors try to prescribe a pill and I say, “No” and I ask the alternative. Like too high of blood pressure, or glucose….losing weight helped me being the numbers back to normal. If a person is abusing a pill, it’s the person taking the pills fault. No one else. Take response your actions. Also, read up on stuff you put in your mouth. Read articles from the Mayo or Cleveland clinic, or WebMD about the product or issue. Educate yourself on alternatives. It’s your body, and YOUR responsibility what you ingest into it. BTW…”happiness” is a choice. Either you see the glass half-full, or you see the glass half-empty. Same two people looking at the exact same glass, and see something different. It’s not the glass fault….it’s you perspective. Change your perspective (turn lemons into lemonade in your head) and you’ll change your life.

With respect to # 1 .....The US could make products at prices competitive with China. Shipping costs would be saved. The US would need to be to invest further in A.I. and automated manufacturing, which it will have to do in the future anyway. Right now CEOs are reluctant to change away from outsourcing to China and other countries because they are making solid profits from outsourcing as it exists and CHANGE is always difficult.
One big mistake that the US made a few decades ago was moving R +D out of the Universities and into the various industries. Also, everyone knows that China steals our technology. WE built up China into a world power, now we have to deal with the Frankenstein's monster of our own creation.