Even as California is finally, slowly opening, some restaurants are still closing.  Lex Gopnik-Lewinski, who owns the popular Augie's Montreal Deli in Berkeley, is closing for four to five months because of a supply chain issue.  He explained:

"The guy who makes the brisket pastrami up in Redding, California is having trouble just getting people to his plant. He is paying really good competitive wages to do some of the work right now, so he is having trouble getting people on line, he is having trouble getting product, which trickles down to us, which then we have to try to pass on to customers[.] ...

Even though business is slightly up the cost is kind of negating all that and we would burn through all of the money we have if we were to stay open over the next couple months[.]

Isn't that special?  No more delicious pastrami from them; website nonfunctional; deli case at the store bereft.  Add it to the growing pile of things we must do without.  The rest of the grocery store shelves were shockingly empty yesterday, too.

We can't have pastrami...why?  Oh!  Because inflation is out of control.  The wholesale cost of meat, including once-cheap brisket, has gotten so high that consumers can't afford to buy the product at costs that will allow the deli to make a profit.  Add to that that we have a worker shortage.  Uncle Sugar is paying people on top of their unemployment to stay home.  So why on Earth give that up, only to pay for gas and parking (or public transit and risk catching something from the homeless who sleep on it), put your face diaper on all day, and go to work to earn less?

They're talking $5 gas, because Uncle Creepy Joe shut down Alaskan oil and stopped fracking, and Colonial is still recovering from a ransomware attack.  Here, in sunny California, that'll be $6 or more, thanks to our extra-special low emissions formulation and gas taxes that "supposedly" pay for road repair.  Um, have you seen the roads in California?  Let's just say we keep the tire alignment folks in business.

In four months, we have gone from Trump's thriving economy, albeit with setbacks because of COVID, to total disaster under Uncle Tone-Deaf.  Biden is creating inflation, and that inflation, as I mentioned in early April, is not going to stop, given his unending poor policy decisions.  They can call it temporary, as Janet Yellen has, but it isn't.  How she can call herself an economist and tout that drivel, I don't know.  If government policy causes inflation, it's not going to stop all on its own!

We remember when, not so long ago, we had a president who was responsive to what was happening around him.  Despite his having to fight off incoming flak every moment of his time in office, we saw him working tirelessly for us.  He was focused on his tasks, and he paid close attention to details.  He always kept the American people and their needs front and center.

Now we have government by neglect and irrational decisions.  Decisions made for a permanently unthinking, tired figurehead who mouths whatever words are put in front of him without further thought, and goes to bed at the same time as a toddler.  It's no wonder Hannity has taken to calling him President Sippy Cup.  The problem is, he's sipping from a poisoned cup and just doesn't even know it.

For instance, wouldn't you have liked a statement from Uncle Vacuous about the Colonial pipeline ransomware attack?  A forceful, public statement that maybe included an action plan to deal with this type of threat next time it happened?  Yeah, add that to the pile of disappointments.  And yes, the meat shortage and price hikes are partially caused by that inaction, as JBS, a huge processor, was the next to be attacked.

It's really comforting to know that the president issued an executive order upgrading the way the federal government handles cyber-security.  Maybe that will protect the feds.  Oh, and the government created a new safety review board to "produce reports on cyber attacks after the fact."  With such incisive action, why shouldn't the evildoers ransom a few more segments of the American economy while they're at it?  Nobody is stopping them, and the media are paying no attention.  What's next?  Are they going to shut down the energy grid?

The handiest illustration of our president's lack of comprehension about reality is the situation at our border.  Just once, I'd like him to acknowledge that the border belongs to our country, not the cartels.  Even once, I'd like to see him express some empathy for the thousands upon thousands of lost souls, children orphaned by his policies, raped by his policies, sold into sex slavery by his policies at the border.  Instead, Uncle Oblivious goes to Tulsa and rants about an event from a hundred years ago without any reference to how America has changed in the century since then.  Biden is stoking race hatred as if that's his only job.

I yearn for a glimpse of humanity from this man who is supposed to be our leader.  I yearn for a little actual leadership.  We've gone from the Trump economy to our current state in only four months, promising 44 nightmare months ahead of us.

Image: Joe Biden by DonkeyHotey.  CC BY 2.0.

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