by Michael Snyder, The Economic Collapse Blog:
I have a feeling that October is going to be one of the most tumultuous months that we have seen in a really long time. Ports all along the East Coast and all along the Gulf Coast are about to shut down, and that could throw U.S. supply chains into a state of chaos for an extended period of time. Meanwhile, vast areas of the South are just starting to recover from a “once in a generation storm” that has done about 100 billion dollars in total damage. Sadly, economic conditions in those states will not return to normal for the foreseeable future. On top of everything else, we are less than 40 days away from a presidential election which threatens to absolutely rip this country apart. If you can’t see the storm clouds that are rapidly approaching at this point, you must have your head in the sand.
TRUTH LIVES on at https://sgtreport.tv/
Tonight, 45,000 dockworkers from a total of 36 different U.S. ports are scheduled to go on strike…
US ports from Maine to Texas could shut down Monday night if a union representing about 45,000 dockworkers carries through with a threatened strike.
A lengthy shutdown of 36 ports – which handle half of America’s cargo from ships – could raise cause shortages and price increases at big and small retailers alike as the holiday shopping season approaches.
Walmart, Home Depot, Ikea and Amazon – who import tens of thousands of containers a year through ports on the east coast – would be worst hit.
We haven’t seen a strike of this magnitude in nearly 50 years.
Of course 50 years ago we made a lot more of the things that we buy on a regular basis in our own country.
It is being reported that the dockworkers are demanding a pay increase of close to 80 percent…
The International Longshoremen’s Association is demanding a pay rise that works out at about 77 percent over six years. For union members on a typical rate, their wage would go from $81,120 to around $143,520.
Retail expert Neil Saunders of Global Data told DailyMail.om that the strike will cause two main problems – shoppers will face higher prices and empty shelves.
Needless to say, they aren’t going to get that much of a pay hike.
Either they are going to have to lower their demands, or we are going to be facing an extended strike.
If this strike goes on for a month or more, it is going to have an enormous impact on our supply chains.
So if there is something that you really need, I would get it now while you still can.
Of course this is happening at a time when the South has just been hit by a “once in a generation” storm.
There are vast areas that will never be the same after this. Many are comparing this disaster to Hurricane Katrina, and that is not an exaggeration at all. At this moment, millions of Americans that were hit by the storm are really, really hurting…
Short on supplies, power and patience, storm victims who saw the brutal force of Helene upend their lives have emerged to a new week, facing the daunting challenge of rebuilding.
Some of the roads and bridges they need to do the job aren’t there anymore. Electricity could be a week away or longer. Emergency services are stretched. Communications infrastructure is in shreds. And neighbors, some of whose own homes are gone, are helping neighbors – all the while worrying about the fate of those from whom they haven’t heard.
At least 102 people have died across six states since Helene, which made landfall in Florida as a mammoth Category 4 hurricane, tore through the Southeast and left millions without power and communications.
We were warned that this storm would be “unsurvivable” wherever it first came ashore, and that was most certainly the case in the small Florida town of Steinhatchee…
As Hurricane Helene pounded Florida’s Gulf Coast this week it virtually wiped the small town of Steinhatchee “off the map” with 10-foot waves and 140 mph winds.
Although the town was evacuated, the 500 people who saved their lives came back to homes and businesses destroyed by the Category 4 storm. “It’s heartbreaking,” Donna Landon told the New York Post. She suffered the total loss of her mobile home.
The Post toured Steinhatchee on Friday, which is located about 90 miles southeast of the state capital Tallahassee. There were few buildings not blown away by the storms and the ones that survived total demolition were heavily damaged. The human cost has been at least 45 dead.
But what made this storm truly unique is that it continued to cause immense devastation hundreds of miles inland.
In North Carolina, entire houses “floated away from subdivisions”…
The rushing water rose five feet higher in the Swannanoa River than anyone had ever seen.
The ground disappeared on South Tunnel Road, leaving a giant sinkhole full of asphalt soup.
Houses floated away from subdivisions. Bridges crumbled. The flood waters flipped semi-trucks into mangled piles. Mud and tree branches and food from local grocery stores flowed into the streets.
Asheville, North Carolina has been completely and utterly devastated.
We are talking about a city of nearly 100,000 people.
Of course North Carolina will be one of the most closely watched swing states during this election.
Will this storm have an impact on how residents of that state vote?
So far, help from the federal government has been very slow to arrive, and people are not happy about that.
Needless to say, this election threatens to unleash a wave of civil unrest that is unlike anything we have ever seen before.
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