Economic state of your State or City?

[QuarterMillionMan]

The ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles are eerily slow w/a nearly half amount of traffic & vessels.

Ports of LA, Long Beach already seeing 44% drop in docked vessels

Las Vegas layoffs at numerous casinos. The article attributes it to a dramatic decline in international travelers to Las Vegas.

What’s behind all the layoffs at Las Vegas casinos? Experts, executives explain | Casinos & Gaming | Business

Hawaii longshoremen that I know are saying the same drop in activity as Los Angeles & Long Beach.

[disneysteve]

Yep. We are definitely starting to see the real impacts of the huge tax hike. It's going to cost our economy hundreds of billions of dollars, increase inflation, increase unemployment, put many small businesses out of business, and just all around wreck things.

I don't know what the current impacts are in my area but really don't follow the news. I used to do medical work for the ports along the Delaware River but it's been 7+ years since I did that so I'm not tuned into that anymore. I'm sure traffic is down there, too. Philadelphia is a major import port. I imagine the Atlantic City casinos are probably seeing declines similar to Las Vegas for the same reason. International travel is off sharply. That's also impacting all travel-related business from the airport vendors to taxi and Uber drivers to hotels, restaurants, entertainment venues, convention business, etc. Many small businesses are being hammered because they import most or all of their merchandise from overseas so as their existing stock dwindles, they're going to have a much harder time bringing in new merchandise. I'm not aware of any that have failed yet but I'm sure it's coming.

[ua_guy]

Port of Seattle is way off too, and not just deliveries, but truck drivers are scrambling to find loads to drive.

Our region is home to Amazon, Microsoft, Boeing, Intel, Nike, Starbucks, T-Mobile, Costco, Nordstrom, Paccar (Kenworth), just to name a few. Microsoft recently showed resilience with its earnings, but it may not be that way next quarter... All the others are directly in the crosshairs of the biggest haphazard tax increase in history. China turned Boeing's planes away. Coffee isn't grown in the US, can't be. The biggest and best retailers and manufacturers all have global supply chains...

But here we are.

[ua_guy]

UPS is letting 20,000 US delivery workers go on anticipated lower volumes shipping from Amazon alone...

https://apnews.com/article/ups-amazon-ece105621fe23b2d0de76a2247df6b8b

[james.hendrickson]

Port of Seattle is way off too, and not just deliveries, but truck drivers are scrambling to find loads to drive.

Our region is home to Amazon, Microsoft, Boeing, Intel, Nike, Starbucks, T-Mobile, Costco, Nordstrom, Paccar (Kenworth), just to name a few. Microsoft recently showed resilience with its earnings, but it may not be that way next quarter... All the others are directly in the crosshairs of the biggest haphazard tax increase in history. China turned Boeing's planes away. Coffee isn't grown in the US, can't be. The biggest and best retailers and manufacturers all have global supply chains...

But here we are.

Soo...you're saying Hawaii doesn't grow coffee?

[ua_guy]

Soo...you're saying Hawaii doesn't grow coffee?

Hawaii, yes. And actually, some is grown in California too. Would you like to pay Kona prices for all your coffee? Hawaii can't produce the volume that places like Starbucks (or McDonalds) needs. Coffee grows in very specific regions, otherwise microclimate (basically, indoor growing) is needed. Arabica coffee is one of the more desirable types and that's best procured outside of the continental US.

[QuarterMillionMan]

100% Kona (not blends) are some of the best IMHO, but minuscule in proportion to the world’s supply. It is smooth and rich tasting with no bitterness to 100% Kona.

[Jluke]

What will be in short supply then - Everyday necessities?

time to stock up at home?

[QuarterMillionMan]

China makes a lot of medications such as antibiotics, blood thinners, antihistamines, diuretics, etc. COVID opened everyone's eyes when China had most of the N95 masks. On my local news a tea business owner said no tea is produced in USA and they are in panic mode not knowing how much their tea products will cost. But tea isn't a necessity. Medications are. And to think we were hoarding toilet paper during COVID. I panicked when eggs hits $12.99 a dozen but just paid $6.99 last week. At least oil is $59 a barrel and gas is coming down.

[ua_guy]

I'd rather have the 10% market value back that is still missing, including the growth that the formerly good economy was producing... The market is likely to decline even more as we aimlessly wander farther into this little experiment. A typical portfolio loss covers a lifetime of gas and egg price increases, several times over. We have folks here who are still off on their portfolios by 6 digits++. Penny wise, pound foolish. And that's being wiped out by inflation on other goods with the tax increases anyway.

All of this was completely avoidable and has been extremely poorly executed. There are myriad ways to incentivize, bolster and move production of certain goods to the US without wrecking the world economy. There are so many repeatable and successful models which could have been followed, but nope.

[disneysteve]

What will be in short supply then - Everyday necessities?

time to stock up at home?

You can't stock up on fruits and vegetables. You can't stock up on prescription medications. You can't stock up on replacement car parts (well I suppose you could but which parts will you choose to order now). You probably don't want to buy a backup cell phone or backup TV just in case yours dies.

It's a global economy. The stuff we eat and wear and use every day comes from all over the world. Isolationism won't make us better or stronger. It will just make everything cost a lot more and be a lot harder to obtain. While the US is making inane policies, the rest of the world is actively building alliances between countries that no longer involve the US. They've already started to move on to source and sell their products everywhere but here.

[QuarterMillionMan]

Jerome Powell today said to expect more inflation & unemployment. I’m waiting for everything to crash and scoop up some fire sales, including real estate.

[QuarterMillionMan]

While everyone's portfolios are probably tanking, mine's is rising thanks to cryptos & gold. Dusting some dandruff off my shoulders.

[disneysteve]

While everyone's portfolios are probably tanking, mine's is rising thanks to cryptos & gold. Dusting some dandruff off my shoulders.

YTD our portfolio is up a little over $12,300. Given all that has happened so far, I'm okay with that. I fully expected the economy to get wrecked so no real surprises yet.

[QuarterMillionMan]

California is looking to implement a 3 cent per mile tax due to the .59 cents gasoline tax dwindling away with the increase in EVs. Even though I hate this new tax it makes perfect sense for California at a new money grab to make EV owners pay their fair share.