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Now even our meat is being cyberattacked

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Today's Agenda

Grillin' and chillin'.

Source: Found Image Holdings Inc./Archive Photos/Getty Images

Shortages in Everything

How was your Memorial Day weekend? Did you eat a bunch of grilled meat? Chill in the pool? Grillin' and chillin', as nobody calls it? Well, hope those good times are locked in your memory, because both of those activities have fallen victim to, you guessed it, supply-chain problems.

The meat thing isn't so surprising. We've had meat troubles off and on throughout the pandemic. Chicken wings have been scarce for a while, because everybody wants to eat them, and farmers for some reason find it "unethical" or "gross" to make chickens grow more than two of them. But now several slaughterhouses have been shut down by a cyberattack, making meat shortages even worse. 

We don't yet know if this was a ransomware attack like the one that hit the Colonial Pipeline. But if it was, then it's a reminder that cryptocurrencies make such attacks much easier to commit, as Bloomberg's editorial board writes. Looking forward to your emails.

It's also just the latest example of how 2021 is the year of the Ever Given ramming into the bank of the Suez Canal forever. Computer chips, cars, plastics, lumber and more are hard to find. Even the chlorine tablets Americans dump in their swimming pools (not to be confused with the chlorine we use on chicken) are scarce, Brooke Sutherland writes, because of a lab fire and general global-trade tomfoolery.

And it's a lot harder to have a pool or grill when you don't have a house. Supply problems have made those prices ridiculous too, notes Michael R. Strain, who argues for deregulating real estate to help. Until then, in many American cities renting makes a lot more sense than buying, writes Teresa Ghilarducci.

All this rampant shortage has markets freaking out about inflation a little bit. But Conor Sen writes that, if and when the global container ship comes unstuck in 2022, economic growth could be much faster than expected as we rush to make up for lost time grilling our Chicken à la Chlorine.

Who Needs a Job Anyway?

The other big shortage everybody is worried about is the labor shortage. We've hashed and rehashed the possible reasons people don't want to come back to work just yet. Some conservative governors have decided the real reason is overly generous unemployment benefits and have started cutting them off. Claudia Sahm explains why this won't magically end unemployment. Many other changes need to happen to get people back to work. 

Among Claudia's suggestions is to simply make some jobs less terrible. Many workers discovered during the pandemic that they enjoyed the flexibility of not being forced to the meatpacking plant every day. It's probably no coincidence that, unlike in other recessions, entrepreneurialism has surged during the pandemic, Allison Schrager writes. This spirit hasn't gone away even as the economy has started to reopen. With people willing to quit their jobs rather than go back to the office, this isn't surprising.

Further Post-Pandemic Work Reading: If you must return to the office, here's how to psych yourself up for it. — Sarah Green Carmichael

What's a CEO Worth?

Companies fought for years against being made to disclose the ratio of CEO to median-worker pay, and little wonder: The results are embarrassing, writes Michelle Leder. Admitting that corporate leaders routinely make more than 1,000 times the average worker does (and even those numbers are massaged) hasn't exactly slowed down CEO compensation. But it has at least made some companies a little more willing to boost worker pay. That might help with the whole labor-shortage thing.

Telltale Charts

A three-child policy won't be enough to revive China's birth rate, writes David Fickling. That will take many more policy changes. (When reading the chart below, keep in mind that any fertility rate of two or less isn't enough to grow the population.)

Bonds and stocks are correlated in a way they haven't been for many years, a sign of real market worry about inflation, writes John Authers.

Further Reading

Naomi Osaka is taking care of her mental health. More of us should follow her example. — Andreas Kluth

The pandemic has taught us that, contra economics, people make bad decisions.— Tyler Cowen 

Written off as a "basket case" at its birth 50 years ago, Bangladesh is now richer than its neighbors. — Mihir Sharma 

We must regulate stablecoins so they don't "break the buck" when their underlying assets fall in value. — Timothy Massad 

Israel's new government probably won't last long and certainly won't upend Netanyahu's legacy. — Bobby Ghosh 

AMC's CEO has embraced his company's meme-stock status, using it to raise more capital. He's playing with fire. — Chris Bryant 

Women lag men in financial independence, and fintech isn't helping.  — Elisa Martinuzzi 

ICYMI

Sinovac's vaccine has tamed Covid in a Brazilian town

Virus strains will have new names.

Just in time: new bird-to-human flu transmission.

Kickers

FINALLY: a see-through swimming pool in the sky. (h/t Scott Kominers)

"Wandering meatloaf" has iron teeth. (h/t Mike Smedley)

"Shrinking" light turns an ordinary microscope into a super one

America has a drinking problem.

Notes: Please send wandering meatloaf and complaints to Mark Gongloff at mgongloff1@bloomberg.net.

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