I-man, the perspective you share fits what I am seeing. There is definitely a bottle neck in procuring consumer goods, while sourcing seeks to catch up with post pandemic reopening. Work performed for catch up does not constitute a booming economy overall, while a few sectors (commodities like steel) are experiencing high demand. Cliffs steel products are in high demand for complex, interactive reasons related to becoming a new, vertically integrated steel company at timing when C19 recovery is gaining momentum. This surge ought to last for years until it coasts into a new normal of healthy domestic steel demand, leaving the new Cliffs significantly undervalued at the current pps.
There is a portion of the work force that appears to be holding off on reentering, even though C19 stimulus and moratoriums are timing out. The gov “gambit” of paying an extra $600 a week unemployment, or a premium replacing $15 per hour for time not worked, appears to have left a lingering expectation that this pay will continue into the working world. That is far from the case in the real world, where employers are instead, automating check out lines, paring down product offerings, reducing hours of operation or closing their businesses as they cannot find workers ready, willing and able at an affordable cost. Consumers are needing to do without while the economy navigates through how these socialist themed premiums can step back down to a sustainable, market based economy.
I know people who want to go back to work but are having trouble because their old job no longer exists and is not situated to come back—ever. Reentery into the work force for many involves applying for jobs they are not well suited to do, for lower pay or for only part time.
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