Six months into this fiasco, I’m starting to think that one of the components of “the new normal” is shortages of almost anything. What if the supply chain miracles we’d come to expect are simply gone? Poof. Will I someday be telling grandchildren that before they were born you used to be able to just walk in a store and buy whatever you wanted and have them stare at me in disbelief?

Again and again, I’m having to search multiple store for “everyday” items. Today for example I went to a SuperTarget to get three things: cat food, bird food, and a large SoftSoap (or its generic equivalent) refill. Six months ago, easy peasy. Today, they had cat food (but not a lot, there was empty shelf space), zero bird food, and no liquid hand soap at all. Rather than wait in a checkout line with just one item, I walked out the door.

Then drove to Cub, a local grocery store. Again, cat food but not a lot of it. Lots of bird food, go figure. No refills for the liquid hand soap, no SoftSoap at all, just a dozen small bottles from some no-name brand.

I am slowly becoming accustomed to not being able to find what I want to buy, at least without having to make two (or more) stops. And this is before an expected spike in coronavirus cases than will overlap the seasonal flu season.

Winter is coming.

Coronavirus News, Analysis, Opinion, et cetera:

Job cuts come for white-collar workers: 'There are no truly recession-proof' occupations

Virgin Atlantic to cut over 1,000 more jobs as demand languishes

Losing Hope? Focus On Gaining Life Instead.

For over a decade now, my job has been alerting people — the aware few who will listen — to the massive changes ahead. Many of which are now underway. Covid-19 has brought these changes to the forefront, serving as an accelerant for many of them. For instance, the wealth gap was large before Covid, but now it’s massively larger. That’s thanks to the issuance of $trillions in newly-created stimulus by the global central banking cartel (led by the US Federal Reserve).

India passes Brazil, becomes second worst-hit country as coronavirus cases top 4.2 million

Coronavirus Scourge Leaves Mexico Short of Death Certificates

What Happened to All Those Pandemic Victory Gardens? This was probably predictable, gardening is not a skill mastered in one season.

^{Badge thanks to @arcange}