| This is Bloomberg Opinion Today, a gasoline line of Bloomberg Opinion's opinions. Sign up here.  Still stuck in our hearts. Source: AFP/Getty Images All the headlines lately are about Evergrande, but the year's biggest story is still Ever Given, the ship that got stuck in the Suez Canal, a living monument to how global supply chains are still Ever Gummed Up. Remember how much fun it was to go to grocery stores 18 months ago and wander aisles stripped clean by marauding hordes of toilet-paper hoarders? Andrea Felsted suggests a sequel could be in our future: Endless supply-chain and labor nightmares are making some foods, beverages and dry goods scarce. This is driving up prices, which could trigger shoppers' fight-or-flight instincts again, leading to preemptive panic-buying or, heaven forfend, trips to Aldi. (People are already panic-buying gasoline and food in the U.K.)  This is not such terrible news for companies with pricing power. Nike last night said everything from factory shutdowns in Asia to disappearing truck drivers in the U.S. had doubled shipping times for its sneakers. But Tara Lachapelle writes demand for Nike kicks is so strong that consumers don't mind waiting or paying whatever extra costs Nike punts to them. It's very bad news for Team Transitory, including the Fed, which has to worry about inflation expectations getting stuck sideways in the Suez Canals of consumer brains. But there's at least something that looks like relief ahead for the housing market, writes Conor Sen. Lumber prices have cooled off along with frenzied demand, and a little more supply is getting built. Altogether, it means at least one big inflation component might return to sanity, while providing some of us with bigger basements for all of that toilet paper. Just remember, folks:  Bonus Inflation Watch! Reading: The Bank of England is staring down the barrel of stagflation. — Mark Gilbert The FDA and CDC have decided that anybody who got Pfizer vaccines will be eligible for a booster shot if they're old enough or if their job is risky enough. There are a few nonsensical things about this, Max Nisen writes. First, it's still not clear many people actually need boosters:  What that chart shows — in case it's confusing, like many other products of the CDC — is that you need to give boosters to 8,738 young adults to prevent just one hospitalization, compared to about 400 for the first rounds of shots. That sounds like a lot of buck for not much bang! "But aha, dumb newsletter," you may be saying, "young people won't be getting many boosters, will they?" But that brings us to the second weird thing: The rules allow for anybody to say they have a dangerous job and get a booster. I can say I work in a doorknob-licking factory instead of a dumb-newsletter factory and get a shot. But! I can only do that if I got Pfizer shots in the first place. And that's the third weird thing: If you truly need a booster but got Moderna the first go-round, then no booster for you. This seems wrong, considering the U.K. has proven you can mix and match vaccine flavors. So, to sum up: Young liars who write dumb newsletters can get boosters, while many vulnerable people cannot. Sounds good! Read the whole thing. Further Confusing Health Guidance Reading: Covid mask rules stopped making sense long ago. — Faye Flam We wrote yesterday about how diplomacy would be key to winning Cold War 2. But diplomacy isn't as easy as it looks. China cozied up to eastern European countries to drive a wedge into that continent, but now they're balking at what China has to offer, Tim Culpan writes. Meanwhile, the U.S. is in all sorts of new cool-kid alliances, from the Quad to the AUKUS Yacht, Dinner and France-Trolling Club, but Mihir Sharma writes these new arrangements are alienating other countries, and not just the French. Vladimir Putin's latest win is the least legitimate yet, as Russia slides deeper into hopeless authoritarianism. — Bloomberg's editorial board The moronic Arizona audit of the 2020 election is backfiring, but don't be fooled: It's still part of an attack on democracy. — Jonathan Bernstein Banks may not love the idea, but they are good tools for imposing costs on carbon polluters. — Paul J. Davies A Devin Nunes court win opens the door for a devastating loss for free speech. — Noah Feldman This could finally be an opportunity to buy value stocks. — John Authers Trumpworld is always welcome in Brazil. Crypto's "Peak FUD" moment is here. People are mad at Zillow on the Internet. Area man goes to grave denying involvement in $500 million art heist. (h/t Ellen Kominers) Newly discovered footprints suggest North America was populated much earlier than we think. Area beetle mite has survived for millenniums without sex. Happy 30th birthday to "The Low End Theory" and "Nevermind," born on this day in 1991, and I am so very old.  Notes: Please send pretty songs and feedback to Mark Gongloff at markgongloff@bloomberg.net. Sign up here and follow us on Twitter and Facebook. | 
Post a Comment