OP-ED: What Is Really Going On Here?

By  Angie Pereira, Contributor

I am going to do my best to give you a synopsis of the current supply and demand calamity that we are facing at this moment, from the perspective of a retailer and having direct information from our wholesaler sources. 

You are all seeing the issue at the ports with ships waiting to come in. Several months ago, we were made aware of this issue by our wholesale vendors, back then the “line” was 30+ miles long (if you lined the ships up).

The supposed issue was COVID-19 related and the ports were running skeleton crews at best. Newsom was attempting to keep that workforce, like every other business, severely reduced, but it is not just that one lone wolf of a communist type, it is in conjunction with the rest of them <point finger at Pelosi et al.>.

As the payments of a grandiose nature were being funneled out through the unemployment system to keep workers at home, along with the “everyone’s gonna die” propaganda push, they have been successful at convincing workers to just stay home and bank some extra cash for doing nothing… I mean, staying safe and saving grandma.

Do you think this was about public health? Good luck in life if you do. This is all being very carefully orchestrated and almost perfectly executed in amazing time. 

The supply and demand model we know is no longer a market controlled variable to our supply chain.

It is all about power and control now. Sounds doomy gloomy, I know, but the cold hard truth is…. Welcome to reality!

Here is what I can tell you from my firsthand account being a retailer – China owns the means to just about everything these days.

You can dream of a world where we bring all the manufacturing back onto our shores, but that will not happen, especially with the current party in control, as they are the most hostile to business and entrepreneurship.

They are known for their “tax the rich” motto, but that is not what they actually mean. Just look at the new policy they are pushing to monitor the banking system using the IRS as your financial police. For every deposit or withdrawal or money transfer you make of $600+, a flag goes up to the “IRS”.

I am not sure about you, but I believe a vast majority of Americans will tell you that is every paycheck, every rent or house payment, every car payment, etc..

Well for business, that is pretty much every deposit and every payment of any kind they make.

Do you truly feel that is necessary to make sure the “rich” are paying their fair share? Seriously? No! That is Big Brother seeing what you bring in and what and to whom you are paying out. 

Now, from a business perspective, especially small business entrepreneurs, you add the government financial overwatch in, which they can be tracked and questioned about everything and the burden that will bring with your accountant, and compound it with all the restrictions and “climate control” initiatives they want to enact or have enacted and you have more red tape than any pair of scissors can ever cut through.

It truly stifles the ambition and innovation that our country used to be known for. This bondage of the hands of small business is staggeringly growing while the big businesses that have lobbying power with the greedy politicians in DC and at state and local levels keep getting to be fatter and fatter in wealth.

Ever heard the saying, “It’s about who you know.”? Well, that is true, just grease some palms and your misdeeds will slide right off and you will get to continue on in the fat cat game.

Okay, back to shipping. Did you know that wholesale vendors are being toyed with in China right now just to get their containers on ships?

Currently, those items that you wish would come back in stock may not actually be sitting off the coast of California.

They may be sitting in China while the wholesale company is being forced to play a bidding game to get their container onto a ship to even have the privilege to sit on the ocean along our coasts.

Those bids are going as high as 5 and sometimes 6 times the normal shipping rate they have been paying. For some the cost of transport is so high they are considering or have decided to abandon their containers of merchandise.

The items inside are now of no value to the vendors, as they would have to take a considerable loss to bring them here, so they are cutting their losses and leaving the merchandise over there.

Also, did you know that some of those ships park outside of U.S. waters and wait for the container owners to pay a ransom?

All these little nuggets of information are not well known, nor does our government want you to know. Why is that? Probably because our government has taken America and pimped us out.

They have bent us over and they are letting China have their way with us. We have been “trafficked” for the financial gain of the elite and the “powerful”. But shhhhh…. We are supposed to just grin and bear it. Don’t worry, Big Brother will make sure we are safe. Ha! That is a load of bullshiggidy!

So to recap, we no longer have a demand driven supply chain, we have a power and control driven supply chain.

We no longer get what we want, we get what “they” decide we get and when we can have it. Capitalism will always exist, even in a communist country – look at China – that is one greedy country – not the people, but the government and their chosen elites.

They love capitalism, but only when it applies to their benefit and they will delegate how manufacturing will be done and how wealth is distributed. Not exactly in a fair way, but, hey, life’s not fair, right? 

My warning to everyone at this time is to buy now for the holidays. Give your families a beautiful Christmas, as best you can, because our future is… well, questionable at best.

You will continue to see merchandise shortages, so buy it when you see it. Don’t be greedy but be prepared.

Don’t become an extortionist and buy up all the toys and try to profit by selling them at high rates online.

Be respectful that other families want to provide things for their children and loved ones. Be decent people but be prepared people. Become aware citizens.

Become a unified people that value our freedom and free market system where people can dream of being entrepreneurs and innovate again.

Support your small businesses, because they truly are the backbone of our nation. Consider a farmer’s market over a large retailer.

AND use cash when you can. The push for a digital currency system is not what you think it is. It is more power and control and more tracking under the guise of making life easier. Not to mention, when you pay with cash, you help reduce the financial wealth of the big banking systems – VISA, Mastercard, etc.

We can take our power back, but it is going to take a collective tug, a very hard, strong collective tug on the noose they are tightening around our throats to get it out of their hands.