Before getting into the weeds on a CBS article warning of a “Looming Showdown” amid large numbers of critical workers who are refusing the mandated vaccination, it is worth setting up the accurate context for the details inside the discussion.

There are 205 million legally eligible U.S. workers between 15 and 74-years-old (census figures) with a workforce participation rate of 61% (BLS figures) which would equal 125 million legally eligible workers.   However, the Bureau of Labor Statistics puts the number of working Americans at 161 million workers (BLS figures).  The majority of the difference between the two figures are most likely illegal alien workers (yeah, lots of them).

Approximately 40 percent of the eligible population are not working.  Some people are single family income (wives or husbands who don’t work), and some are just people who choose not to work, cannot work or have not yet started to work (college etc).  With somewhere between 125 million and 161 million workers doing the jobs that keep the country functioning, there are also approximately 10 million unfilled job openings.

According to the most recent statement from Joe Biden on October 14th: “We’re down to 66 million — it’s still an unacceptably high number — of unvaccinated people from almost 100 million in July.”  Approximately 60 million of those are within the current U.S. workforce.

If we split the difference (census -vs- BLS) and take the mid-point at 140 million workers, then 60 million workers refusing the vaccine mandate represents about 40 percent of the entire population of eligible workers.  Put another way, in the best case scenario, if 60 million people quit working or were fired, the national unemployment rate would be at least 35% !

What we call the United States doesn’t function with 35% unemployment; systems of commerce start to collapse, then government, then civil society.

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Economic Security is National Security….

The Trump Doctrine

The only person in my lifetime to inherently understand how to change a national economic program to benefit the middle-class was Donald J. Trump.  And I don’t even think he knew it on a scholarly basis – he just knew in his gut what steps to take to benefit the American worker on Main Street.

Only Donald Trump had the mind to see downstream consequences of economic policy and then re-engineer those programs; along with a keen ability to apply a  level of strategic policy to protect our interests {EXAMPLE}.  All other potential candidates are politicians by nature and incapable of reversing our decay.

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If you are wonder whether the White House is concerned about the middle-class being impacted by massive increases in gasoline, high home heating costs, extreme food inflation and empty shelves…   Well, the message from White House chief of staff Ron Klain is very telling:

Apparently feeding your family and making ends meet is a “high class problem.”

The elitism and disconnect from the average American always shows up when you look at DC democrats writ large.   They always talk down to those they view as ‘the help’.

Hundreds of requests for details on the specifics of the container shipping backlog.  So, I spent 3 days calling sources, digging for details and gathering information on the substantive issue at hand.  The epicenter of the problem is not what is being outlined by financial media, corporate media and politicians who have a specific interest in distracting from the issues at hand.  This has nothing to do with COVID-19.

The issues being discussed today relate to events that happened a long time ago.  As a matter of fact, it was so predictable that Amazon, Walmart, UPS, FedEx, Samsung, The Home Depot and Target all had taken actions years ago -long before COVID- because they knew this day would come.  It was not accidental that those companies showed up at the White House to discuss the issue, because there’s now a full court press to hide it.

There is one very specific regional issue driving the problem.  Read on:

The trucking issue with California LA ports, ie the Port of Los Angeles (POLA) and the Port of Long Beach (POLB), is that all semi tractors have to be current with new California emissions standards.  As a consequence, that mean trucks cannot be older than 3 years if they are to pick up or deliver containers at those ports.  This issue wipes out approximately half of the fleet trucks used to move containers in/out of the port.  Operating the port 24/7 will not cure the issue, because all it does is pile up more containers that sit idle as they await a limited number of trucks to pick them up.  THIS is the central issue.

On October 16, 2020, the EPA reached a settlement agreement [DATA HERE] with California Air Resource Board (CARB) to shut down semi tractor rigs that were non-compliant with new California emission standards:

2020 SAN FRANCISCO – “Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced settlements with three interstate trucking companies imposing $417,000 in penalties for violating the California Air Resources Board’s federally enforceable Truck and Bus Regulation, Drayage Truck Regulation and Transport Refrigeration Unit Regulation.

“As trucks are one of the largest sources of air pollution in California, EPA will continue to ensure these heavy-duty vehicles have the needed pollution-control equipment and operate in compliance with the rules,” said EPA Pacific Southwest Regional Administrator John Busterud. “These companies have agreed to bring their trucks into compliance and operate more cleanly in all communities they serve.”

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I do not expect White House Spokesperson Jennifer Psaki to understand how her bosses policies are driving massive price increases; nor do I expect Psaki to understand economics and inflationary impacts.  However, the scale of her false statements surrounding inflation are not just false, they are now dangerous.

Following the release of the consumer price index [SEE table 2], in her press briefing today, Jen Psaki outlined the White House perspective on inflation, and specifically the Fed claims surrounding “transitory inflation.”

In her statements today, Psaki referenced people comparing the prices of 2021 consumable goods to 2020 and 2019.  [Video prompted below] Within the statements, the scale of falsity is off the charts.  WATCH [Video at 19:00 to 22:42, prompted]

There is not one single thing about that three minute verbal exchange that is accurate.  Fast turn consumable goods, groceries etc., did not drop in 2020 during the first year of the pandemic.  Factually, all goods but especially consumable goods increased in price throughout the pandemic, because demand actually increased and the supply chains were unable to keep up.

Example.  A loaf of bread at $2.50 in 2019, climbed to $3.00 in 2020.  That price jumped again to $3.75 this year (2021) and will likely continue rising as monetary policy driven inflation continues devaluing our currency.

Even if, as Psaki claims, inflation slows down  (not likely) – “decelerating inflation” does not mean declining prices; it means a slower rate of price increase.   Stuff still costs more, it just costs more at a slower rate.  Consumable goods will cost more in 2022 than they do this year.  The 2022 loaf of bread likely to climb to $4.00; it will never return to the 2019 price of $2.50 because the dollar is worth less.

♦ Ask the White House: Why did Joe Biden increase food assistance benefits by 25% if inflation was transitory?

[The Consumer Price Index was released today.  The producer price index for Sept will be released tomorrow]

This massive inflation is a direct result of the multinational agenda of the Biden administration in combination with the spending spree.  Inflation is a feature not a flaw, and it has nothing whatsoever to do with COVID. The first group to admit what was obvious were banks, specifically Bank of America, because the monetary policy is the primary cause.

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Several news outlets (Bloomberg below) are noting the Department of Labor, Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), has submitted the worker vaccine rule to the White House for review prior to publishing as an ’emergency temporary standard’.

While this may be seen as disappointing by many, the moment the rule hits the federal register, it will be subject to lawsuits before implementation.  Until the DoL/OSHA rule hits the books, the mandate is nothing except a statement of intent.

Once the emergency rule is put into the register, then various state attorneys general and private sector employers or employees will be able to seek injunctions and challenge the legality. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis stated yesterday his legal team is awaiting the rule to be published to trigger his state’s legal challenge.

(Bloomberg) […] The standard implements the president’s Sept. 9 order for a regulation requiring businesses with at least 100 employees to mandate workers get fully vaccinated or be tested weekly for Covid-19. Biden also asked for the rule to provide paid time off for workers to get vaccinated and to recover from any side effects.

An emergency standard bypasses what is normally a years-long regulatory process. To do so, OSHA must establish that the vaccination or testing requirement was necessary to protect workers from a “grave danger.”

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The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released the job openings and labor report for August today [DATA HERE].  The data shows that 4.3 million U.S. workers voluntarily quit their jobs in the month of August.  This is a significant jump from prior.

The “Quits” section [Table 4 breakdown] shows quits increased in August to 4.3 million (+242,000). The quits rate increased to a series high of 2.9 percent. Quits increased in accommodation and food services (+157,000); wholesale trade (+26,000); and state and local government education (+25,000). Quits decreased in real estate and rental and leasing (-23,000). The number of quits increased in the South and Midwest regions:

While this data is interesting and significant, it is only one data point within the larger U.S. main street economy.  Rather than me extrapolating on this data, I would like to hear your perspective based on your own local feeling about what is going on in your area.

Key points of reference would include:

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An anonymous worker from the West Coast Port of Los Angeles came forward on “The Stew Peters Show” to discuss the claimed issues around the cargo ship backlogs.  {Direct Rumble Link} As the port worker noted, based on his 18-years working there, there is no supply disruption on the unloading end of the supply chain; though they are a little backed-up, but the port is offloading at a high capacity.

The interview is interesting because the ground report contradicts the popular narrative about COVID impacts on the current supply chain.  There are ample goods flowing into the supply chain from the ports, yet there are claims of shortages at the warehouse and distribution level. WATCH

Stew Peters accurately reminds his audience that no nation generates and exports as much raw material foodstuff as the United States.   This is a key point seemingly overlooked by most media.  The U.S. exports around $73 billion in food products annually. The next closest food export nation Germany isn’t even close at $34 billion.

In very general terms, about one-third of U.S. food exports are North/Central America (Canada, Mexico, etc) exports; approximately one-third go west (Asia) and about one-third go east (Europe).   There have been no reported issues with those shipments departing the U.S.

However, one point worth noting, by the LA dock worker, is the influence of predictive orders or automated-purchases based on historic norms and patterns.  I think that overheard note by the worker was somewhat misconstrued, and a correct interpretation could explain part of the backlog of container vessels offshore.

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People inside Southwest Airlines are speaking out carefully and pointing out why there are so many flight disruptions.   Essentially, the background issues are what were discussed earlier.  Pilots are pushing back against vaccine mandates; and if you think about the curriculum vitae of a typical pilot, it makes sense.

A big percentage of commercial airline pilots are former military pilots.  That group of people carry a strong disposition toward the principles of patriotism, service, liberty and freedom.

It is a simple truism that upsets leftists, but it makes sense for this specifically skilled workforce group to be the tip of the push back spear.

Alex Berenson provides some background details after being contacted by a Southwest pilot: “The pilot emailed following the first Southwest post today (and provided his SWA ID to prove his identity). He asked that I paraphrase the email.

Essentially, the union cannot organize or even acknowledge the sickout, because doing so would make it an illegal job action. Years ago, Southwest and its pilots had a rough negotiation, and the union would not even let the pilots internally discuss the possibility of working-to-rule (which would have slowed Southwest to a crawl).

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The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) has released the September jobs report [DATA HERE] showing a dismal 194,000 jobs added against a financial media and Wall Street expectation of 500,000 jobs.  [CNBC Apoplectic]   The labor participation rate in the worker economy overall has not moved since Biden’s inauguration, and stands at 61.6%.

Digging into the numbers, what is happening is exactly what we ¹should expect.  Outside the immediacy of private sector durable goods retailers seeing a pull back in consumer purchasing due to inflation (which we continue to point out is the critical issue); the local economies impacted by a declining tax base are key early indicators of contracting economic activity.  Wage gains are not keeping up with inflation.

Inside the data, you will note [Table B-1] a significant decline in Local Government Education of -144,000 jobs.  Obviously the collapse of in-school teaching leads to less jobs in this sector overall. However, the drop happened at the exact same time students were returning to a new school year, and this drop is also reflected year-over-year.  Schools were impacted by COVID in Sept 2020 more than schools are impacted by COVID in Sept 2021, yet this year the jobs are completely gone.  Something bigger is happening in this sector.

Additionally, healthcare services show a major drop in employment (-37k) specifically as it relates to elderly care and nursing homes.   All the sub-sectors of elder care are significantly lower in employment.

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