Why, more than a year and a half into the pandemic, do strange shortages keep popping up in so many corners of American life? Supply-chain trouble suggests that something is off with the way we’re operating in the world, and that we don’t yet know the extent of our vulnerabilities. The issues can also be a serious impediment to a broader economic recovery. Referring to supply-chain issues, in other words, can be a useful shorthand when a problem arises, but it’s an insufficient one; pinning the supply-chain meltdown on the pandemic can be an evasion. Recent storms have caused major disruptions; by one estimate, Hurricane Ida alone wrecked a quarter of a million cars.Such severe weather events are a reminder that the pandemic supply-chain ruptures may pale compared with those which will be associated with the climate crisis in coming years."
At www.newyorker.com
