Your mother was right. Don’t put your eggs all in one basket. Roger. Copy that. Except we, as a country, didn’t. I was stunned to learn how much of our supply chain comes from China. Take, for example, our footwear. Ninety percent of it comes from China. (Hello, Brazil, Italy, and Spain? This is the U.S. calling. We want to place an order for footwear- a LOT of footwear.) Or, check this out. I heard 80% or more of the antibiotics used in the U.S. come from China. So, I looked it up. Yes, the percentage is that high.
The United States has made itself vulnerable by allowing one country to be our primary supplier for things like furniture, sports equipment, clothes, footwear, furniture, drugs, electronics, and various components. Who could have predicted the Coronavirus outbreak? Chinese production has been hurt in a big way by a factor that no one could have predicted.
Expect our supply chains to be affected if the virus is not controlled in a few weeks. In short, the products we have come to depend on may not be available to us. The U.S. and other countries will need to move their supply chains out of China and into other countries. We need to help China while limiting our supply chain risk.
A business that I follow has already been affected. Fortunately, the owner had a few items manufactured in India for spring. That will keep their business afloat temporarily. Long term, they need to scramble to find new avenues of manufacturing, or they will go out of business.
Like mama said, “Don’t put all of your eggs in one basket.”
That’s Common Sense Civics and Citizenship. ??
