The pandemic has added many terms to America’s daily vocabulary – “masking,” “vaccine mandates,” and, perhaps most notably, “supply chain.” The country’s sudden lockdowns and then re-openings have given everyone a crash course in economics, especially about supply and demand. That lesson has rarely been a happy one.
The COVID-19 whipsaw has led to surging inflation because demand has outpaced supply for many products. Prior to the pandemic, manufacturers practiced just-in-time inventory management, which relied on timely deliveries of components. Such scheduling was too precise for a world in turmoil, causing delayed shipments and higher prices.
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