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by robocat 1688 days ago
> Our economy ... is doing a bad job of adapting to new behaviors [because] just-in-time

I have been astonished at how well the world has responded to the shock. Our first world economies seem to be amazingly resilient (although perhaps I am biased by being in New Zealand so I am unaware of what is going on elsewhere).

It seems to me that just-in-time is helping us, and capitalist price signals are working.

So far I personally haven't lacked anything important (albeit, I live in a rich county. I did have to wait a month for an iPad).

Sure there is plenty of fail, but I'm not sure the obvious "better" answers would actually improve anything.

It is easy to criticise given perfect hindsight, and easy to see from my armchair what should have been done.

2 comments

We are doing okay because the Chinese supply chain held on even during the pandemic, which is why their orders have grown so much during 2019-2021
If the entire manufacturing line is essential, why would a pandemic create gaps? It was only over a year or so of higher demands. Nothing dramatic. 5 years would be hard. 1 year just uses a bit of warehouse space for most consumer items. No one ever stopped making stuff, and they started shipping more where they could.

Most people who couldn't get what they wanted would have no way to prove that. Whereas people who got what they think they couldn't, would have that memory strongly planted and even shared.