Supply-Chain’s Political Fallout

On today’s show, our hosts discuss issues up-and-down the supply-chain, and the political fallout it ...

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On today’s show, our hosts discuss issues up-and-down the supply-chain, and the political fallout it brings. Plus, the ripple effects of the House passing the infrastructure package, what we think we know about the 2022 midterms, and the latest news around the Steele dossier.

Show Notes:

–Lincicome’s latest Capitolism tackles our supply-chain woes

–Uphill breaks down the bipartisan infrastructure bill

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  1. Avatar photo
    Ben Connelly

    Thank you for your kind words about us listeners, Sarah. Always glad to hear Chris on this podcast. Great show.

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    T.K. Small

    Could someone provide a link to the podcast in which Steve Hayes talks about property rights?

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  3. Adam

    They should have all pretended that Chris was Jonah and seen if anyone noticed.

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      PaulH

      Chris has a much heartier laugh.

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    Slp

    Thanks for the Steele dossier discussion. Even at the time the tale got so twisty. It's helpful to have the group take on the recent activity as well.

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    Tracie

    FYI There's no way to rate pods / episodes on Spotify. I am defiantly not an Apple person, so not doin it there...

    Anyone have another suggestion?

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  6. Raincheck

    In terms of the supply chain issues, work rules at the ports are a particular problem. Even when politicians say that the ports are now open 24 hours, it simply isn’t working that way. Night and weekend service on the ports is so bad that truckers won’t come during those hours. It eats up too much time.

    I travel on the 605 freeway, a main truck line carrying goods to and from the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. On weekdays it is clogged with trucks. Evenings and weekends there are almost no trucks on the freeway. We will never clear the backlog of container ships, and the related backlog of containers, working 8 hours a day, four days a week.

    This is the kind of thing I think the government can step in and help solve. But the focus is on walls and giant spending programs. We need a government that addresses the problems of its people competently.

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    OK Steele

    Appreciate how little partisanship plays a role in how events are judged by in The Dispatch.

    Have been astounded by the outrage coming from the pundit class on the right in regards to the infrastructure bill.

    I have appreciated Joe Manchin’s position in regard to the the democratic agenda, not because he has pushed bills toward my personal policy preference, but because he was elected to represent the people of WV, not to be a voiceless vote for the democratic initiative. The concept of blind party loyalism is a betrayal of the diverse constituencies many senators and congressmen represent.

    On top of that, I genuinely hope that the senators and congresswoman that represent me are making decisions and arguing positions that they genuinely believe will be better for the people that they represent, regardless of their political affiliations. When I voted for a congresswoman who’s policy preferences I mostly disagree with, I did it because I thought she made arguments in good faith, and her opinions were thoughtful and fair, and I’d rather have someone like that than the opposite.

    The point is to say that Fred Upton owes absolutely nothing to the Republican Party. He was elected to represent his district and to say that he’s obligated to vote in any particular way on any particular bill, and then to attempt to punish him for his vote is a desecration of the concept of federalism that Conservatives are SUPPOSED to believe in.

    My jaw dropped listening to the Editors podcast where all were strongly critical of those 13 republicans, after months of arguing that Joe Manchin represents a state not a party.

    Whether I like the bill or not, whether it opens the door for the Build back better bill or not, whether the vote let progressives off the hook or not are all immaterial here.

    The concept of federalism and the autonomy of elected leaders to do what they believe is right regardless of the outcome is far more important than any particular policy objective. There is never a bill or an election that is important enough to abandon the founding principles, and if there ever was, this certainly isn’t it.

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  8. Avatar photo
    Adicesa14

    This was an excellent and informative conversation, thank you.

    Listening to your views on the supply-chain, coupled with the nearby Scott Lincicome essay, “American Sclerosis,” I can’t help but recall Ronald Reagan’s assertion that “government is not a solution to our problem; government is the problem.” As noted, the current situation has been a long time coming. Policy after policy created a circumstance ripe for failure. Regulations that protect constituencies,’ and add expense to construction inhibited efficiency and improvement. Unfortunately, our busiest ports are in California who’s State regulations pile-on additional restrictions. These government interferences in the market have created a third-world supply-linkage in support of the World’s otherwise most dynamic economy. Of course, Biden can’t be blamed for that which he inherited; but he can be blamed for his negligence of inflation, while he exasperates the situation with actions that hinder energy production, and concentrate his efforts on a massive social spending bill that will most likely make matters worse. Mr. Reagan was right; the government is the problem. It needs to get the hell out of the way.

    You are absolutely correct; Republicans should monitor the behavior of their members, and when they act immorally, stupidly, or criminally, appropriate corrective action should be taken. That Democrats may not act against their own miscreants is no reason for Republicans to follow suit. Do the right thing!

    Regarding the Steel Dossier: The Trump campaign certainly attempted collusion with Russia to obtain ‘dirt’ on Hillary Clinton, but they failed because they were too busy imitating “the gang that couldn’t shoot straight. The Clinton Campaign cleverly created dirt on Donald Trump while disguising itself behind layers of other actors. They failed by losing the election and stupidly ‘doubling down’ with continued harassment. Also, they didn’t anticipate AG William Barr. One hopes the entire mess becomes known, but must Durham release the report to the public?

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      PaulH

      Durham can't release the report to the public; the report goes to the AG who decides whether or not to release it. Given the precedent set by Barr in releasing the Mueller report, I think it is going to be very difficult for Garland not to release the Durham report.

      As you point out, the Clinton campaign was much better at pulling off dirty tricks than the Trump campaign. Like the Trump campaign, the Clinton campaign was happy to invite the Russians to interfere in our elections (the Steele Dossier purported to be based on information from top Russian officials). But as with the Alfa Bank story, the Clinton campaign did not care much whether the story was true; all that mattered was whether or not they could get the media and the DOJ/FBI to buy it. In that they succeeded beyond their wildest dreams -- hamstringing the Trump presidency for years.

      As such, I think the equivalency David draws is inapt. Sure Republicans were able to ignore a few tawdry (but entirely inconsequential) scandals because of the the Steele Dossier. But the Democrats were able to undermine the legitimacy of the Trump presidency and justify their anti-democratic "resistance" rhetoric and actions. There is really no comparison between the two.

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        Rev Snow

        Funny how we rarely hear Christopher Steele accurately described as a person with strong ties to a foreign government. Not worried about that source of election interference it seems.

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        Rev Snow

        Hillary Clinton campaigned under the shadow of an FBI investigation. She was motivated to elicit reporting that the Trump campaign was also under FBI investigation to level the playing field on that point.

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  9. Richard Fulmer

    There are things that Biden can do to ease the supply chain issues. In his "American Sclerosis" post, Scott listed the following regulatory contributors to the problem:
    1. Federal immigration restrictions
    2. Restrictions on Mexican trucking
    3. Zoning laws
    4. Tariffs on Chinese truck chasses
    5. Environmental regulations
    6. Unionization
    7. Aging port and highway infrastructure
    8, Jones Act (Merchant Marine Act of 1920) restrictions on shipping and on port dredging
    9. Buy America Act
    10 Davis-Bacon Act
    11. Tariffs and quotas on industrial inputs such as steel and aluminum

    Biden has the authority to do the following:
    A. Temporarily suspend the Jones Act
    B. Encourage Governor Newsome to cut through the red tape preventing port-owned land for use as container storage sites
    C. Eliminate tariffs on Chinese truck chasses
    D. Eliminate tariffs on industrial inputs such as aluminum and steel
    E. Negotiate with the unions to increase hours of operation at key ports
    F. Allow Mexican trucks that meet safety and EPA standards into the U.S.

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    1. Mathew A

      Yes Scott made a strong case for all of those.

      I would add stop demonizing the oil and gas company, and telling them that we are going to phase you out.

      All that does is stop capital investment and make prices shoot up further. Though I guess in the eyes of some on the left that's a feature not a bug

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      1. DJ

        Nonsense. Oil exploration *always* tracks with market prices. Political jawboning has zero impact. There are more than enough tycoons who will take anything Biden says as an incentive to yell "Let's go Brandon!" even louder while digging more wells.

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        1. Yisrael Gale

          Oil tycoons invest their money according to culture-war rhetoric? Nope. Not even the My Pillow guy does that.

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        2. Mathew A

          Canceling pipelines or making it hard to drill on federal land is more than just jawboneing

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          Dusty

          Except the oil companies aren’t drilling more wells.

          Now, that’s not all Biden’s fault. Some of it is them realizing that massive capital expenditures on new rigs and wells has left them overly leveraged in the past, so they’re being a bit more responsible with their balance sheets and rewarding shareholders more. That’s the positive side of it.

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    Carson J.

    Oh good, "Let's dive right in" is back.

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