I can weighed in on this a little bit as I work for an international manufacturing company. Yes, worldwide energy cost are up dramatically. But another serious blow to manufacturers who rely on global sourcing is worldwide shipping, mostly on the water but in the air as well. The situation with Russia and Ukraine has exacerbated the recovery from the Covid shut down.

It’s no different than McDonald’s but on a different scale. It’s still surprising to me that many McDonald’s are closed for inside dining after 7 o’clock. I saw this last night when we were coming back from someplace and I wanted to swing through Taco Bell. Drive-through only. I also needed a pair of pants the other night and went to the mall to Men’s Wearhouse, but it closed at 7.

There’s a fundamental shift occurring in the US economy and it sucks. I’m not sure just exactly why this is happening but we can’t find workers. Is it because there’s not enough young people anymore? I don’t know. Do we have too many people going to colleges? I don’t know. It’s likely accumulation of 1000 tiny needles making larger and larger cuts and we’re all experiencing it. I’ve been looking for another motorcycle (a small dual sport) and the one I want, a Yamaha XT 250, I can’t find one anywhere within 250 miles of me. There was one Yamaha TW 200 that popped up and it was gone in a day.

If only that we’re so…..