October 13, 2021
You’re probably noticing the cost of everything is going up and delivery delays on lots of goods. Today – the president says he’s working on fixing it.
Of course there’s a lot of factors playing into these issues — the labor shortage, inflation, Covid19 concerns here and around the world but also we’re seeing a serious supply chain issue. I’m sure you’ve seen the photos and TikToks from the Port of Los Angeles with containers stacking up and cargo ships lining up in the water waiting to off load.
And that supply chain issue in the United States is the one that the president wants to address right now. His 90-day — three-part plan includes –
One — turning the Port of Los Angeles into 24-hour a day operation. The Port of Long Beach started those 24 hour a day operation in September. Just so you know – 40% of containers bound for the United States enter at one of those two ports. So adding overnight operating hours should speed up the unloading of those goods.
Two — the White House secured a guarantee from the International Longshore and Warehouse Union to allow its workforce to staff those 24 hour a day operations at the ports.
And three – adding the private sector to the mix. Walmart, UPS, FedEx, Samsung, Home Depot and Target have all committed to expanding their round the clock operations to move these goods.
Just so we’re clear – the issues at the ports represent one part of the supply chain problems we’re seeing. The u-s is also facing a shortage of truck drivers – which I discussed months ago in this video. And of course the there’s problems in other countries where these goods are actually made. Covid19 infections have caused those production warehouses to close. Not to mention the inflation issue.
Economy experts say things are going to get worse – before they get better.
White House announcement on supply chain here.
PLUS
If you are one of the 70 million Americans who receive Social Security benefits or SSI — you’re about to see a pretty big increase in your 2022 monthly checks.
The Social Security Administration announced today — recipients would receive a 5.9% cost of living increase in 2022. That translates to about $92 more per check. To put it in context on average – the Social Security cost of living increase has been about 1.5% in the last 10 years. So yeah – going to nearly 6% is a big jump. In fact — the biggest jump in 40 years.
The social security administration is required by a 1973 law to adjust payments to beneficiaries based on the cost of living and inflation.
For everyone else who’s not currently on social security – this mean — the maximum amount of earnings subject to the social security tax will increase to $147,000 from $142,800. That means a bigger tax bill for about 12 million high-earning workers.
Social Security announcement here.
Social Security COLA fact sheet here.
