Re:Cargo Is Piling Up Everywhere, and It's Making Inflation ...
by hef19898 on Tuesday June 22, 2021 @06:15AM
(#27589853)
The container shortage has nothing to do with trade imbalances. Those existed already before, yet we only had container shortages around Chinese New Year. Now is different, Chinas Covid lockdown resulted in almost no shipments to Europe and the US (I am not that familiar with the Asia US business). That meant a container shortage for exports from the EU, which resulted in less containers at these destinations. Then China opened up again, while the rest of the world went into lockdown. Add to that Chinese new year, crazy demand changes (e.g. wood from everywhere to China and the US), disruptions caused by Covid and you have containers all over the place. Just not where they usually are supposed to be. And containers where already less available before Covid compared to 5 years ago. That'll take a while to sort out. More, much more, than I guessed a year ago.
Re:Cargo Is Piling Up Everywhere, and It's Making Inflation ...
by tim333 on Tuesday June 22, 2021 @05:55AM
(#27589744)
Trade imbalances are not always bad. Say your house goes up and you borrow to buy a car. That's a local trade imbalance but there are no losers there really. Similar stuff happens on the international level but in more complicated ways.
Re:Cargo Is Piling Up Everywhere, and It's Making Inflation ...
by RyEgswuCsn on Tuesday June 22, 2021 @08:52AM
(#27590992)
> Trade deficits are bad because the deficit nation has to take on debt.
Not if the deficit nation can pay off the debt using its own currency whose supply is also controlled by the same nation, no?
Re:Cargo Is Piling Up Everywhere, and It's Making Inflation ...
by BeFlatXIII on Tuesday June 22, 2021 @11:26AM
(#27592865)
Who is supposed to stop saving that money and how do you convince them to spend it now?
I said trade imbalances, trade itself is good and there is nothing wrong with being a trade champion.
That debt hat to be taken on by someone. The private sector doesn't want it. We have run out of good borrowers as indicated by the 2008 financial crisis. Interest rates drop to 0% as money is not finding any takers. So the government must take the debt and forcibly invest it as the borrower/investor of last resort.
Just address the problems at their root. Stop saving too much money and stop foreign nations from dumping their savings into your country. When people invest too much into land tax it appropriately. These are century old problems. They aren't new.