Food shortages are not the only supply chain issue Americans have faced and are still facing, although we freely admit we focus more on food because one can live without certain household products, yet they cannot live without food and water.
With that said, winter is coming, and there are other shortages and severe price hikes that are already affecting tens of millions of Americans.
Some far more deadly than others, some that can make life extremely difficult to live in the manner we have become accustomed to, and others simply more of an inconvenience.
No heat in a state with extremely cold winters is deadly. Certain appliance shortages could be an inconvenience or, depending on which appliance, could be far more of a problem. A game console would be nothing more than an inconvenience, while a refrigerator could be far more problematic, yet both require certain parts that there have been shortages of for two years and we are told the "worst is yet to come."
With 20 million U.S. homes being behind on their energy bills, Bloomberg reports we are looking at a "Tsunami of Shutoffs" during a brutally hot summer, and leading into what is expected to be an equally brutal winter.
California’s PG&E Corp. has seen a more than 40% jump since February 2020 in the number of residential customers behind on payments. For New Jersey’s Public Service Enterprise Group, the total is up more than 30% for customers at least 90 days late—and that’s just since March.
The average price consumers pay for electricity surged 15% in July from a year earlier, the biggest 12-month increase in the data since 2006. A jump of that magnitude isn’t typical, and the gains are only poised to continue. Even in the free-market-oriented US, regulation of electricity rates makes it hard for providers to immediately pass on higher fuel costs, so the recent hikes may be just the start.
For those that think there is any chance that their electricity could be cut off, they should quickly prepare to keep warm during the winter, as well as methods to cook food.
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