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Track The Massive Congestion At The Port Of Long Beach In Real Time

Tyler Durden's picture




 

Things on the West Coast Ports are going from bad to worse (for those who missed it read "Catastrophic Shutdown Of America's Supply Chain" Begins: Stunning Photos Of West Coast Port Congestion), and with no resolution in sight, it is now beginning to cripple the US economy. Here is a brief summary, courtesy of the WSJ, of how the near-strike is already impacting various businesses across the US:

  • Ocean carrier Maersk Line has canceled some sailings, while China Ocean Shipping (Group) Co. said it will skip at least one port
  • Shipping line CMA CGM Group said it has “adapted its schedule and has been modifying its ports call order.” China Ocean Shipping said it has canceled some port stops.
  • Truckers that normally haul an average of five containers a day away from the Port of Oakland, Calif., are lucky to haul one.
  • At the Port of Oakland, truck drivers can spend up to three days waiting in line before hauling one container out of the yard, says Henry Osaki, an employee at an Oakland-based trucking company.
  • A West Coast customs broker said that her customers are being assessed as much as $300 a day for containers that sit too long on the docks, though the containers are trapped there.
  • Levi Strauss & Co. said it was concerned it wouldn’t receive some products in time for spring deliveries.
  • As of Monday, Honda Motor Co. was experiencing parts shortages at plants in Ohio, Indiana and Canada that will affect its production on multiple days over the next week.
  • The Agriculture Transportation Coalition estimates that port delays and congestion have reduced U.S. agricultural exports by $1.75 billion a month, while the North American Meat Institute put losses to U.S. meat and poultry producers at more than $85 million a week, including hides and skins.
  • The delays could cost retailers alone as much as $3.8 billion this year, according to an analysis by consulting firm Kurt Salmon. Adding in rerouting and carrying costs and other expenses could bring retailers’ total costs to $7 billion this year, the firm said.
  • Bert von Roemer, owner of Serengeti Trading Co., a Dripping Springs, Texas, coffee importer began rerouting coffee beans he intended to ship to the West Coast to Houston, Norfolk, Virginia and New York. “I’m railing the coffee across” to roasters in California, he said. “It’s costing me about $2,000 extra per container,”

And so on, as more and more distributors, retailers, producers, manufacturers, and ordinary mom and pop business, decide that the time has come to blame something - last year it was the Polar Vortex which compared to the current climate conditions was a spring breeze - for what is a global economic depression, one from which the US is not decoupling. That something being the west coast port strike this time, coming soon to a Wall Street scapegoating "analyst" near you soon.

For those interested in tracking the port congestion as it gets progressively worse, here is a live map courtesy of MarineTraffic:

 

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Wed, 02/18/2015 - 11:03 | 5798560 Manthong
Manthong's picture

Cool.. this is like FlightRadar, only a lot slower.

Wed, 02/18/2015 - 11:07 | 5798571 _ConanTheLibert...
_ConanTheLibertarian_'s picture

Wait till these ships get magically disappeared from radar. That's how you fix this problem.

Wed, 02/18/2015 - 11:12 | 5798609 nuubee
nuubee's picture

Oh sure, get the military industrial complex to make stealth tankers/container ships, I agree, that'll fix the deficit too.

Wed, 02/18/2015 - 11:33 | 5798718 rccalhoun
rccalhoun's picture

assholes versus assholes

truck drivers are the losers--they work for a living

Wed, 02/18/2015 - 12:18 | 5798996 Publicus
Publicus's picture

Jobs are returning to the US thanks to the strikers!

Unions will rebuild America!

Wed, 02/18/2015 - 12:45 | 5799182 max2205
max2205's picture

Unions Fuck them and their 150k paychecks

Wed, 02/18/2015 - 12:48 | 5799197 BLOTTO
BLOTTO's picture

So 'they' want us to believe its the unions...

.

Like this whole world - reality is an illusion and their is more to this than meets the eye...

Wed, 02/18/2015 - 12:53 | 5799223 knukles
knukles's picture

Just an FYI, yesterday there were 2 Canadian Navy shore patrol vessels along the central southern US CA coast.  WTF?
Yes, they were on the ship map.  Had to click on the ships to catch them, but they were there.....

Wed, 02/18/2015 - 13:52 | 5799586 Four chan
Four chan's picture

hole e fuk!

Wed, 02/18/2015 - 13:57 | 5799609 Mark Carney
Mark Carney's picture

We got lost looking for Phoenix. Still cold up here.

Wed, 02/18/2015 - 14:00 | 5799632 Payne
Payne's picture

All the West Coast Ports are owned and controlled by Chinese interests.  They do not agree to the conditions requested by the Unions.  The owners of the Port Facilities are unconcerned by the loss of revenue by the US Economy.

Wed, 02/18/2015 - 14:07 | 5799666 rccalhoun
rccalhoun's picture

i think the canadiens vessels were down here to eat at some choice restaraunts

Wed, 02/18/2015 - 14:25 | 5799743 winchester
winchester's picture

china imports.... china port owners... slow the flow... lack of delivery... prices rise... china win, usa loose.

 

in another words, china get your ballz in hands murica, will it blend ? :)

Wed, 02/18/2015 - 14:27 | 5799762 SafelyGraze
SafelyGraze's picture

"A West Coast customs broker said that her customers are being assessed as much as $300 a day for containers that sit too long on the docks, though the containers are trapped there"

which actually comes out to be a better return than the -0.75% nirp her customers were getting elsewhere


Wed, 02/18/2015 - 15:14 | 5800066 Payne
Payne's picture

China wins but gets to blame the Unions,  brilliant.

Wed, 02/18/2015 - 12:50 | 5799208 Creepy A. Cracker
Creepy A. Cracker's picture

Yep, $150,000/year manual labor jobs.  "Jobs Americans won't do," apparently.  Dear Leader Obama has the answer with illegal alien replacements...

Wed, 02/18/2015 - 13:08 | 5799214 Publicus
Publicus's picture

I'm sorry for your crap job.

 

Join a Union, you'll make more.

Wed, 02/18/2015 - 12:57 | 5799250 kill switch
kill switch's picture

 

I don't care if they make $5,000,000.00 a year this is what we need to do to take away the chock hold that the wall street gang and the assholes in DC have on us. Massive strikes and civil disobedience is our only chance now as the levers of government no longer work for the people.

Wed, 02/18/2015 - 14:56 | 5799916 The Big Ching-aso
The Big Ching-aso's picture

I guess they could start calling this the Longtic Wet Index.

Wed, 02/18/2015 - 16:44 | 5800548 SilvertonguedAngel
SilvertonguedAngel's picture

So just let the multi-national corps replace them with illegals for 8 bucks an hour?

Wed, 02/18/2015 - 15:15 | 5800071 Realname
Wed, 02/18/2015 - 13:58 | 5799624 Beowulf55
Beowulf55's picture

NO..............Dave Hodges is nothing but another Alex Jones who loves to hype and scaremonger......We will not run out of food if the ports shut down.  Maybe some bananas but people will not starve to death.  Now if the trucks don't come with food to your local grocery store, yes maybe.  But we still produce enough food in this country that if they did shut the ports down it's not the end of the world............Dave Hodges...........phttttt.

Wed, 02/18/2015 - 15:33 | 5800176 PTR
PTR's picture

Yeah, Natural News quoted the commonsense show.

I was wondering if there is behind-the-scenes intent to turn this into another straw to throw on the camel's back.  Would certainly fit the mold.

 

If the credit system were to break down ala 2008, what would happen to all those things sitting on ships, transported via letters of credit?

"Enquiring minds want to know."

 

On a different note, I think I'm going to do some car maintenance a little earlier than normal...

Wed, 02/18/2015 - 12:02 | 5798908 WillyGroper
WillyGroper's picture

Jim Willie has an interesting take on this mess & among other things the rebel takeover in Ukraine.

Wed, 02/18/2015 - 12:08 | 5798937 clade7
clade7's picture

The first old maid, she upped and said, "Mines as big as the Sea!  The ships sail in, the ships sail out, and never bother me!"

Wed, 02/18/2015 - 13:30 | 5799445 Fedamentals
Fedamentals's picture

MH370 was a fast cleanup as well.

Wed, 02/18/2015 - 15:12 | 5800048 sgt_doom
sgt_doom's picture

The Longshore Union and West Coast ports --- what the newsies won't tell you

 

The Pacific Maritime Association (PMA), representing the multinational corporations who use and operate the ports, has long sought to do away with one of the two remaining real unions in America, the ILWU (the other being the nurses' union).

 

Representing the PMA for the long haul has been the super-shyster firm, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher.

 

You should be familiar with this venerable legal firm (assuming we had any actual news reporting in America, that is), after all they litigated on behalf of Reagan during Iran-Contra; litigated on behalf of George W. Bush in Bush v. Gore; litigated on behalf of Citizens United in Citizens United v. FEC, and most recently represented Chris Christie during Bridgegate.

 

Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher also litigated successfully on behalf of multinational corporations in Columbia, when they hired assassins to murder union organizers.

 

Rest assured, should Satan appear with a contract for your soul, he'll be well represented by Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher!

 

Former and present members of that shyster firm include Ken Starr, Whitewater special prosecutor (and grandnephew of the founder of AIG), Antonin Scalia's son, Eugene Scalia; the necon director of the FBI, James Comey, is an alumnus of that firm, and Ted Olson, George W. Bush's solicitor general.

 

Olson was, the assistant attorney general and legal counsel to Ronald Reagan during Iran-Contra, and he was the senior litigator representing George W. Bush in Bush v. Gore, and represented Citizens United in the same capacity during Citizens United v. FEC before the Supreme Court.

 

Unfortunately, Olson's third wife (or Wife #3), Barbara Olson, perished aboard Flight 77 which flew into the Pentagon's west wall on 9/11/01.  Mrs. Olson was intimately involved with the 2000 Florida presidential election illegal machinations ("Hanging Chad Affair") and such intimate knowledge might have proven costly in a messy divorce --- fortunately for Olson and the neocons, such an event never took place and Olson moved on to Wife #4.

 

Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher has much experience with planted stories and disinformation campaigns --- note how many of the stories on the ports and the longshore union always cite the union workers' salaries, but never the port operators' profits!

 

When evil is called for, call for Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher!

Wed, 02/18/2015 - 11:06 | 5798577 Crash Overide
Crash Overide's picture

So remind me again why this is happening and who benefits?

Wed, 02/18/2015 - 11:34 | 5798726 Abitdodgie
Abitdodgie's picture

This is all show , you see Omaba want's to get the TPP agreement through and this will apply enough pressure to get it into action, just follow the money.

Wed, 02/18/2015 - 12:19 | 5799016 NotApplicable
NotApplicable's picture

Desperate times call for desperate measures.

Besides, everybody wants a bigger cut of the loot.

Wed, 02/18/2015 - 12:55 | 5799238 Stroke
Stroke's picture

In part this is happening:

1. The dockworkers think they need more money (It's a Califonia dreamin' thing )

2. They want a raise to offset the tax on the "Cadillac" health plans they hold

Wed, 02/18/2015 - 11:06 | 5798578 Headbanger
Headbanger's picture

It means beef prices should drop cause it can't be shipped out to Asia now either

Wed, 02/18/2015 - 11:07 | 5798583 Crash Overide
Crash Overide's picture

Does this mean that we will see a rise in American manufacturing because all the "Made in China" stuff is still on the ship?

Wed, 02/18/2015 - 11:33 | 5798719 Handful of Dust
Handful of Dust's picture

What it means is your taxes are going to increase to pay for all this incompetence.

Wed, 02/18/2015 - 12:14 | 5798982 cowdiddly
cowdiddly's picture

So much for the Just-in -Time inventory idea. Hedge accordingly

Wed, 02/18/2015 - 12:25 | 5799034 clade7
clade7's picture

Great post!  this whole JIT really fucked us in the mfg sector, on account of there was never any 'plan B or C's considered in the paradigm.  Something as simple as this port strike can be a 'planet killer' for the unprepared business...of course, "it was unforseen" the guys on the floor get let go, but not the mgnmt fucker who took them full blown JIT with no backup plan...

 

Donner Party type shit going on in a lot of companies when a group of people are, "Poorly led, quarrel visciously, and dawdle along the way"   (direct excerpt from the Donner Party diaries)

Wed, 02/18/2015 - 12:28 | 5799063 centerline
centerline's picture

Just imagine what happens in a real crisis when it comes to grocery stores, gas, and other daily necessities.

Virtually everything has gone JIT these days... including most households.

Wed, 02/18/2015 - 14:33 | 5799790 jerry_theking_lawler
jerry_theking_lawler's picture

You can really see the 'impact' when you zoom out and check some of the boats that have LAX, los angeles, etc, but are pointed south towards the canal. This is what is happening in our system currently. The transit time just went up by 20% and we are watching our inventories slowly fall as goods are not coming in to replenish as expected. Hopefully, the canal and ports on the east coast can speed things along and catch the inventory in time....for those that had very low inventory, this will be a disaster.

Congrats to all the 'idiot' MBAs out there for squeezing the supply chain to the breaking point....hope you didn't plan on making sales without inventory.

*I say 'idiot' because I'm an MBA too, but a manufacturing guy at heart and understand that everything can not be predicted with 100% accuracy.

Wed, 02/18/2015 - 15:15 | 5800072 RaceToTheBottom
RaceToTheBottom's picture

The Normal distribution is a Wall Street plot to bring down the system.

Wed, 02/18/2015 - 11:51 | 5798834 TideFighter
TideFighter's picture

The transport of cheap Chink goods has become hydrophobic. 

Wed, 02/18/2015 - 13:38 | 5799510 doctor10
doctor10's picture

what if its NOT a strike? But collapse in demand?

Wed, 02/18/2015 - 13:57 | 5799615 walküre
walküre's picture

Yes, better to blame strikers along the entire US Westcoast then admitting that the channel stuffing from China has come to a full stop. Who needs all this crap anyway?

BDI has collapsed because of a) bigger ships and b) more of the bigger ships. Ships can carry up to 18,000 boxes vs. 4,000 a few years ago. Plus we have 10xs more of these ships.

Hello? Korean shipbuilders already losing billions and the Chinese have started to take ships apart again as a sort of "make-to-work" program because tens of thousands of workers would unemployed otherwise.

China has grown leaps and bounds over the last 30 years, built a network of highways from 100 miles 30 years ago to 50,000 miles today! China is done growing at that pace and the global resource based sector which supplied materials for that growth is DONE like dinner.

THERE IS NO GROWTH or the growth we had experienced over the last 40 years is OVER

Good luck to the strikers. Long shore men are only paid when they're called in for work. Hypothetically they could make all this money but when there's no demand for shipping, there's no demand for long shore men.

Wed, 02/18/2015 - 14:39 | 5799817 azusgm
azusgm's picture

what if its NOT a strike? But collapse in demand?

I think it's about time for me to take a little trip over to WalMart to check on how well the shelves are stocked. Didn't see much of a problem Sunday afternoon. Certainly should be showing up by now. Most of what I saw going through the checkout lines Sunday was groceries.

Wed, 02/18/2015 - 17:48 | 5800805 azusgm
azusgm's picture

So, I'm back from my scouting adventure to WalMart. There must have been a truck or two arrive early this morning. IIRC, this WalMart does most of their stocking at night. Several persons were busy restocking but mostly in the cleaning supplies, pet food, and one in costume jewelry. The linens, housewares, small kitchen appliances, televisions, pet beds, and baby paraphenalia, and office supplies had too much extra space on the shelves and displays. There were inventory pattern sheets (with the notation "CONFIDENTIAL" on them) posted at the back of some shelves. Some of those sheets were dated Feb 14th, some were dated Feb 7th. My phone rang and ended my little outing, so I didn't get to look in the auto care, lighting supplies/electrical, cosmetics, or gardening center.

Overall, it appeared to me that this WalMart is probably behind on inventory deliveries, but their sales should not be impacted yet. The early afternoon stocking makes me think that their supply routines are somewhat out of order. It is conceivable that there could be some effort to reallocate current inventory among stores or somewhere along their stateside supply chain. What I saw going onto the shelves mostly came from the USA, Canada, and Germany.

For what it's worth.

Wed, 02/18/2015 - 13:51 | 5799580 BorisTheBlade
BorisTheBlade's picture

Breaking: track how fucked up things are in real time!

Wed, 02/18/2015 - 11:06 | 5798576 MarketAnarchist
MarketAnarchist's picture

Wheres Reagan when you need him? Fucking unions... Fire em all and offer the positions to someone who WANTS TO WORK.

Wed, 02/18/2015 - 11:09 | 5798587 firstdivision
firstdivision's picture

Ahhhh Reagan.  The man who pushed for financialization of the US indutrial complex, which is why we are now a "service economy". 

Wed, 02/18/2015 - 11:14 | 5798619 Took Red Pill
Took Red Pill's picture

Yes, the president who took care of the rich and said it would "trickle down" to the middle class.

Wed, 02/18/2015 - 11:33 | 5798717 tarsubil
tarsubil's picture

In Reagan's Soviet America, trickle down is pee!

Wed, 02/18/2015 - 11:16 | 5798627 ParkAveFlasher
ParkAveFlasher's picture

Yeah but he read the script like a CHAMP.  If I were a monkey, I'd be proud to co-star in a movie with him.

Wed, 02/18/2015 - 11:32 | 5798711 CrimsonAvenger
CrimsonAvenger's picture

That man is the reason I named all my children Bonzo.

Wed, 02/18/2015 - 13:46 | 5799550 General Decline
General Decline's picture

I liked pre-assasination attempt Reagan better than post-assisnation attempt Reagan.  I didn't say I like either.  Just liked one more than the other.

Wed, 02/18/2015 - 12:00 | 5798894 mtl4
mtl4's picture

Sorry but Reagan already had his monkey co-star.....

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1pkVLqSaahk

Wed, 02/18/2015 - 11:16 | 5798630 Bill of Rights
Bill of Rights's picture

Clinton was key to the ‘financialization’ of the US economy, by de-regulating the financial system (repealing the Glass-Steagal Act of 1933) and appointing Wall Street financiers at the helm of national economic policy.   Clinton put in place the first series of repressive police state ‘anti-terrorist’ legislation and expanded the national prison system. In sum, Bill Clinton’s Middle East war policies, his ‘financialization’ of the US economy, his ‘war on terror’, his Zionist orientation towards the Arab world and, above all, his own ideological anti-welfarism led directly to Bush Junior’s full scale conversion of the welfare state into the police state .

Wed, 02/18/2015 - 11:32 | 5798714 Renewable Life
Renewable Life's picture

Ah wasn't this a nice red team/blue team monkey debate!!

Way to go idiots!!!!!!!

Reagan vs Clinton BS, how timely!!! Let's start on Kennedy vs Nixon next!!

Wed, 02/18/2015 - 13:32 | 5799451 ParkAveFlasher
ParkAveFlasher's picture

+1...It was pretty much downhill after General Washington. 

Wed, 02/18/2015 - 13:51 | 5799583 General Decline
General Decline's picture

Like I tell my kids - If a presisdent was assasinated, they were probably doing something right.

Wed, 02/18/2015 - 21:50 | 5801625 Took Red Pill
Took Red Pill's picture

Here's a great article about our presidents of the last century. Red or Blue, it's all the same;

http://www.globalresearch.ca/a-century-of-american-presidents-marching-t...

Wed, 02/18/2015 - 14:09 | 5799673 Automatic Choke
Automatic Choke's picture

P.A.F..... naw, you gotta at least give Jefferson some credit.

 

Wed, 02/18/2015 - 12:47 | 5799151 Bob
Bob's picture

Not to mention eliminating limits upon concentration of media company ownership that has produced the corporate monopoly now tube feeding the public its propaganda as "news" today. 

What had previously been traditional moderate liberals--pro-regulation, anti-monopoly, etc.--in the Democrat Party were replaced by corporate puppets shilling the "New Democrat" agenda of the "Democratic Leadership Council," a new business-friendly "insiders" club within the Dimrat Party in the early 90's:

And for $25,000, 28 giant companies found their way onto the DLC's executive council, including Aetna, AT&T, American Airlines, AIG, BellSouth, Chevron, DuPont, Enron, IBM, Merck and Company, Microsoft, Philip Morris, Texaco, and Verizon Communications. Few, if any, of these corporations would be seen as leaning Democratic, of course, but here and there are some real surprises. One member of the DLC's executive council is none other than Koch Industries, the privately held, Kansas-based oil company whose namesake family members are avatars of the far right, having helped to found archconservative institutions like the Cato Institute and Citizens for a Sound Economy. Not only that, but two Koch executives, Richard Fink and Robert P. Hall III, are listed as members of the board of trustees and the event committee, respectively--meaning that they gave significantly more than $25,000.

http://prospect.org/article/how-dlc-does-it

Clinton was their first flat out puppet boy.  Billy Boy definitely gets my vote for worst Dimrat Prez ever . . . but realizing Barry Obola still has time to overcome the short gap between them with over a year left and a whole long time to see how the shit he leaves behind plays out. 

Wed, 02/18/2015 - 11:16 | 5798633 BeerMe
BeerMe's picture

Only because he literally was shot for thinking otherwise.

Wed, 02/18/2015 - 11:57 | 5798871 22winmag
22winmag's picture

+1,000

 

Yeah... Reagan did an about face on a lot of things real quick when Bush and Co. gave him a near fatal case of lead poisoning.

Wed, 02/18/2015 - 11:58 | 5798881 22winmag
22winmag's picture

Indeed... not to mention Reagan took the War on Drugs and the Prison Industrial Complex and put turbochargers on them!

Wed, 02/18/2015 - 12:51 | 5799211 Tall Tom
Tall Tom's picture

You mean Bush & Co.

 

Reagan was just acting as President at the time. You are right.

 

A bullet to the chest convinced Mr. Reagan to allow Bush to dictate policy.

Wed, 02/18/2015 - 11:14 | 5798613 Dungholio
Dungholio's picture

...

Wed, 02/18/2015 - 11:14 | 5798615 Dungholio
Dungholio's picture

....

Wed, 02/18/2015 - 11:53 | 5798844 clade7
clade7's picture

"Whats in the box?"

 

Brad said to Morgan

Wed, 02/18/2015 - 11:13 | 5798616 Dungholio
Dungholio's picture

Yeah, like the syrians that obola is importing.  it will keep them off the streets and keep them from beheading peeps...

Wed, 02/18/2015 - 11:34 | 5798725 Muddy1
Muddy1's picture

AND, per the US Department of State, we'll find them jobs, get them subprime mortgages, subprime car loans, etc., etc. and etc.   Then they'll be happy andnot want to behead us, or carry out other acts of terrorism.  SARCASM 

Wed, 02/18/2015 - 11:14 | 5798621 oddjob
oddjob's picture

PMA is playing games with peoples livelihooods and advancing somebody elses's agenda.

“PMA is leaving ships at sea and claiming there’s no space on the docks, but there are acres of asphalt just waiting for the containers on those ships, and hundreds of longshore workers ready to unload them.”

http://theloadstar.co.uk/west-coast-port-congestion-crisis-pics/

Wed, 02/18/2015 - 12:58 | 5799259 Stroke
Stroke's picture

Trickle down econ........Piss on ya'& tell you it's raining

Wed, 02/18/2015 - 11:10 | 5798596 Theta_Burn
Theta_Burn's picture

GO Longshoremen..

You guys will get what you want, afterall 200K isnt what it used to be..

Just keep in mind that shippers and customers are already looking at solutions to keep the supply chain moving which will lesson your workload in coming yrs..

So party on Garth.. for now

Wed, 02/18/2015 - 11:21 | 5798652 youngman
youngman's picture

I heard years ago about a plan to build a port in Mexico with the Nafta agreement.....I bet that gets started again....Mexicans want the work...need the work....and will do it cheaper....and they can put it on their trucks and cross the border easy.....we USAers are pretty stupid.....we will lose our jobs....but hey...we got Netflix...

Wed, 02/18/2015 - 11:35 | 5798729 GMadScientist
GMadScientist's picture

That'll work as well as amateur air-traffic control!

Wed, 02/18/2015 - 11:38 | 5798742 Handful of Dust
Handful of Dust's picture

I can't begrudge dockworkers even if I disagree with some of them. I worked loading and unloading ships part time while in grad school and it's extremely tough work. I don't know how anyone over 40 can handle it. As opposed to Wall Streeters and bankers and gubmint pushing paper across a desk or HFT and being handed multi million bonuses and a bailout for any bad decision they make [with your money] or being above the law.

Wed, 02/18/2015 - 12:17 | 5798952 Theta_Burn
Theta_Burn's picture

Agreed

Being in a position to squeeze someone else, at the expense of someone else is criminal period.

But, for 800-1000 a day, you would be supprised how many could handle it..

 

Wed, 02/18/2015 - 12:23 | 5799037 NotApplicable
NotApplicable's picture

Also, God only knows how much they have to pay in kickbacks to Gov. Moonbeam and his minions.

That said though, unions are just another gang masquerading as a beneficial social structure.

Wed, 02/18/2015 - 20:22 | 5801377 TheAnswerIs42
TheAnswerIs42's picture

"I don't know how anyone over 40 can handle it"

Now you know what unions are for...

 

Wed, 02/18/2015 - 11:11 | 5798597 Max Cynical
Max Cynical's picture

This is economic terrorism.

Dismantle the unions and let union members reapply for their jobs based on merit.

Wed, 02/18/2015 - 11:16 | 5798634 ParkAveFlasher
ParkAveFlasher's picture

What is this thing, "merit"?  Is that like a "favor" or "connection"?

Wed, 02/18/2015 - 12:13 | 5798973 Ignatius
Ignatius's picture

"This is economic terrorism."

You have adopted the language of the security state.   Well done.

Shill or fool?

Wed, 02/18/2015 - 15:19 | 5799834 Bob
Bob's picture

Unions aren't FAIR.  Workers should have to go one on one with the guys of real value.  And their flunkies.  And companies.  And financiers.  And legal system.  Etc.

Mano a mano, the American way. 

Nothing is so sacred as FAIRNESS when it gives the working class the short end of the stick.  When they might benefit from it, however, it's a value for mocking only.  After all, if the working class were to have a recognized claim to fairness, the world would go to hell in a hand basket. 

These people really need to be shown their place in no uncertain terms! 

Wed, 02/18/2015 - 11:11 | 5798598 TalkToLind
TalkToLind's picture

Bullish!  Long shoremen.

Wed, 02/18/2015 - 11:11 | 5798601 dirty belly
dirty belly's picture

[Levi Strauss & Co. said it was concerned it wouldn’t receive some products in time for spring deliveries.]

Try this: http://www.allamericanclothing.com/

 

Made in the USA

When you purchase from All American Clothing you are helping our economy in so many ways! For example: the clothing is made in the USA, the box it shipped in was made in the USA, our website is hosted by a USA company, the shipping companies are all from the USA, the people who built our building are USA citizens, etc...As you can see, buying one shirt or a pair of jeans that are Made in USA affects many jobs in many different industries.

Wed, 02/18/2015 - 11:20 | 5798644 BeerMe
BeerMe's picture

I don't really care as long as the quality is good.  My made in Vietnam clothes are good.

The biggest problem with Levi is their cheap denim.  Their jeans don't last long.

Wed, 02/18/2015 - 11:56 | 5798872 dirty belly
dirty belly's picture

My friend, these clothes are better fitting and the feel of the fabric is softer and smoother than crusty old Levi's.  I have several pairs of denim pants, and black cargo type pants.  The long sleave T-shirts, regular T-shirts are very nice and sturdy and more color choices.  Socks are Wig-Wam: https://www.wigwam.com/ and I have several pairs of long socks and 2 pair of 30 Below Wool socks, OH so warm!!

I don't ever buy Levi's or shop for clothes in Fred Meyer's or Target and never, never EVer shop in Wal-Mart.

 

Wed, 02/18/2015 - 12:34 | 5799103 STP
STP's picture

Agreed!  I've got ten pairs of the Wig-Wam Merino wool socks, both light and heavy weight and there's nothing like them!  They are soft, don't itch and keep your feet warm, warm, warm!

Wed, 02/18/2015 - 14:55 | 5799917 Bob
Bob's picture

Costco has had their Kirkland (store label) Merino wool socks on sale for a few months so far at $11.99 per 4 pack.  Damn nice medium-heavy, comfortable and warm wool socks!  They've allowed me to continue wearing my beloved nylon mesh-upper cross trainers all winter this year . . . with a foot circulation problem that had me on a blood thinner and sitting with my feet in boots on a heating pad all last winter. No boots indoors, no heating pad, and no meds this year. 

12 pair for $36. 

Wed, 02/18/2015 - 12:20 | 5799020 StupidEarthlings
StupidEarthlings's picture

Woah. .woah..woah... you can't talk like that. All yer southern racist 'buy merican' crap. What are you from the 70s? 

Why do you gotta hate on the Chinese? 

Sheesh. Tolerance man... coexist. 

Maybe we can coexist the fuckin usa right outa existence. 

;)

(Warning-  this message may include a hint or dash of sarcasm)

Wed, 02/18/2015 - 12:58 | 5799258 Chauncey Gardener
Chauncey Gardener's picture

I just bought a new pair of Levi's 501 jeans. Made
In Egypt. They fit better than the last ones I
got that were made in Mexico.

Remember when Levi's were made in 'Merica?

Wed, 02/18/2015 - 13:06 | 5799319 Pinktip
Pinktip's picture

Diamond Gusset Jeans

Cabot & Sons wool socks

Wed, 02/18/2015 - 11:11 | 5798602 nakki
nakki's picture

Who needs an economy when we have S&P'S at 2100.

Wed, 02/18/2015 - 11:11 | 5798604 GMadScientist
GMadScientist's picture

What?! Spreading your manufacturing over the entire planet in an effort to reduce costs via the global supply chain has risks?

Say it ain't so.

Wed, 02/18/2015 - 11:24 | 5798662 GMadScientist
GMadScientist's picture

Whoever put that down arrow is too dumb to manufacture car parts and only qualified to put them together for $12/hr or a Walton.

Wed, 02/18/2015 - 11:12 | 5798611 Duc888
Duc888's picture

 

Industrial strength tin here:

"The other really big sign of pressure on the Washington D.C. rogue regime can be seen from that fact that all shipping to and from the US West coast is being blockaded. Sources in the Longshoreman’s Union in Portland, Oregon make it clear this shut down of shipping is not due to a labour dispute as US based propaganda news outlets would have it. Rather this is part of an Asian blockade against the US to force it to deal with the criminals in Washington D.C. The shut-down of the rogue CIA may have been their condition."

 

http://benjaminfulford.net/2015/02/17/nukes-in-the-ukraine-lockdown-at-c...

Wed, 02/18/2015 - 11:43 | 5798779 Theta_Burn
Theta_Burn's picture

I do so enjoy the occasional bizarre spin on stories like this but..

The Longshoremen have been slowing this port down for mths now, with a very public dispute between labor/management..

Eventually the Chinese will be blamed for something, but this?

Use your common sence dude..

 

 

Wed, 02/18/2015 - 12:01 | 5798903 Duc888
Duc888's picture

 

 

I did, that's why I labeled it "tin".

Wed, 02/18/2015 - 12:15 | 5798985 WillyGroper
WillyGroper's picture

Use your common sence dude..

Now that right there is FUNNY!

Play chess?

Listen to Jim Willies take. It could alter your common "sence."

Wed, 02/18/2015 - 12:30 | 5799072 Theta_Burn
Theta_Burn's picture

Could you provide a link to Jim's take on this?

Sailing 100's ships from around the world with 1000's of containers, to not let them be unloaded to hold America hostage? there are lots of ways to do that, at next to no cost to..

Let me also point out that this is only happening to the west coast.. the ILA on the east coast sees no disruption at all?!?

I'll continue to run with the common sence meme

Wed, 02/18/2015 - 13:38 | 5799505 WillyGroper
Wed, 02/18/2015 - 12:26 | 5799057 NotApplicable
NotApplicable's picture

I normally like reading your posts, but Fulford is nothing but a Rockefeller disinfo agent, thus I have to downvote this one.

I will admit though, his writing makes for some good comedy at times.

Wed, 02/18/2015 - 15:11 | 5800042 Bob
Bob's picture

I had to upvote it on comedy. 

Turns out the comedy was intentional, hinging upon "industrial strength . . . tin." 

Wed, 02/18/2015 - 11:14 | 5798622 TheCanadianAustrian
TheCanadianAustrian's picture

In other words, US ports are overloaded due to blistering demand for imports. This is what you call a "luxury problem" and it's non news. Wake me up when the exact opposite happens.

Wed, 02/18/2015 - 11:16 | 5798631 debtor of last ...
debtor of last resort's picture

The world just stopped accepting dollars me thinks. Blame the weather or the unions.

Wed, 02/18/2015 - 11:17 | 5798636 lasvegaspersona
lasvegaspersona's picture

Sweet Maries seems low on coffee stock (green beans for home roasting.) Usually they have 100 varieties now down to a handful.

As a prepperish guy I recently learned that beans will last years and only begin to age once they are roasted.

If I'm going to have to go through a global financial collapse I'm going to enjoy my coffee at least....and it is half the price to home roast your own....I agree this port shut down could cripple the nation if the coffeee does not flow. It is second in importance only to gold.

Wed, 02/18/2015 - 11:25 | 5798669 youngman
youngman's picture

I live in Colombia..buy my green beans from the farmers...$1.50 lb....roast my own...its great..and fun to do...

Wed, 02/18/2015 - 11:45 | 5798792 StupidEarthlings
StupidEarthlings's picture

Sounds like a lotta work. Im goin to Starbucks. 

Wed, 02/18/2015 - 14:57 | 5799941 El Vaquero
El Vaquero's picture

Starbucks medium roast is like most people's extra dark roast.  There's a local joint that gets beans from all over the world and roasts them on site.  It's much better than Starbucks.

Wed, 02/18/2015 - 14:56 | 5799930 El Vaquero
El Vaquero's picture

I would grow my own beans, but something tells me that coffee bushes/trees wouldn't like winter here. 

Wed, 02/18/2015 - 15:43 | 5800291 Realname
Realname's picture

This is where I get my green coffee. Its not bad, although, Im no coffee afficianado. Its fun to roast but smells like burnt popcorn (the smoke, not the coffee). http://www.costco.com/Rainforest-Alliance-Green-Unroasted-Arabica-Coffee...

Wed, 02/18/2015 - 11:20 | 5798645 Divine Wind
Divine Wind's picture

 

 

 

Must suck bigtime for the cartels and others who are waiting for shipments of contraband.

 

Wed, 02/18/2015 - 12:16 | 5798993 WillyGroper
WillyGroper's picture

Miltary fills that post.

Wed, 02/18/2015 - 11:20 | 5798646 Jameson18
Jameson18's picture

"it is now beginning to cripple the US economy."

What US economy are you talking about?

 

 

Wed, 02/18/2015 - 11:24 | 5798664 hotrod
hotrod's picture

Guess they are tired of blaming the weather.

Wed, 02/18/2015 - 11:28 | 5798687 BeerMe
BeerMe's picture

Seems to be affecting some of my suppliers.  Not a huge deal because companies will find different supply routes.

Wed, 02/18/2015 - 11:29 | 5798692 Nostradumbass
Nostradumbass's picture

Return to manufacturing here and let the longshoremen suck it.

Wed, 02/18/2015 - 11:45 | 5798765 TalkToLind
TalkToLind's picture

But which products can our American Idol watching population actually build?

Wed, 02/18/2015 - 11:51 | 5798828 Unix
Unix's picture

We used to be the manufacturing hub of the world until nafta and gatt, etc

fuck the greedy, beady eye politicians and banskters who ply both sides of the trade and profit from our losses...FUCK THEM!

Wed, 02/18/2015 - 12:31 | 5799077 NotApplicable
NotApplicable's picture

As long as there are unions to ensure their members uneconomical wages/benefits, there will never be a manufacturing renaissance in the US. And of course, the same is true for the Federal Reserve, et al. that finances the out-sourcing scam.

Long story short, parasitism is always fatal to the host.

Wed, 02/18/2015 - 11:30 | 5798699 Smuckers
Smuckers's picture

A nice place to claim my boating accident.

Wed, 02/18/2015 - 11:51 | 5798740 Pullmyfinger
Pullmyfinger's picture

This is not so much due to a strike as it is a slowmotion lockout by the Chinese-owned port facilities themselves. The average wage of dockworkers is already more than $140,000 a year.

So what would be the motive? An effort coordinated by BRICS elements to promote a perfect storm to destroy the neonazi financial hegemony of the US, starting with the coordinated support of Greece by Russia and China, which will most certainly be leaving the EU officially on, or by, March 1.

This action will initiate the inevitable collapse of the euro; a process which will, in turn, force the dollar into the stratosphere of reletive evaluation, thereby imploding any remaining vestage of usefullness of the dollar as the world's reserve currency. Contracts and derivatives of all kinds will be exploding left and right as the dollar surges over 100.

This effect will converge in perfect syncopation with rapidly growing supply shortages in the US --not to mention a significant reduction in exports due to both the shipping bottleneck AND an increasingly "strong" dollar. (insert laughtrack here)

Don't kid yourselves: WWIII is already in full swing and the Anglo-Western Empire has already lost. Get ready for a return to a worldwide gold standard and the reduction of the US overnight to the third-world
dictatorship its always wanted to be.

Wed, 02/18/2015 - 12:19 | 5799013 WillyGroper
WillyGroper's picture

Alas, some common "sence."

Wed, 02/18/2015 - 13:34 | 5799412 Theta_Burn
Theta_Burn's picture

So this is what you are talking about..

Very interesting take, as I'm not Chinese or Russian, so don't think like one.. this being a 3-D attack, is extremely expensive. wouldn't dumping say 200billion in treasuries have a better effect? and not cost them anything?

Wed, 02/18/2015 - 13:45 | 5799538 WillyGroper
WillyGroper's picture

Part of it. I gave you the link on your other post. There's so many spinning plates right now. Who's to say they won't dump T's later, or slowly now? If the angle is true on the ports, no shots even fired. The Chinese are buying up ports everywhere. Another interesting take on JW's view is the Minske meeting w/ Puty, Mutti & Hollande.

There's a few here stuck in their bias. I prefer multiple perspectives. None of which I thought of in that interview. 

CHF interesting too.

Wed, 02/18/2015 - 13:46 | 5799540 WillyGroper
WillyGroper's picture

dup

Wed, 02/18/2015 - 14:25 | 5799744 pitchpole
pitchpole's picture

I would think China would be smart enough to wait until the euro starts its death spin causing the dollar to sky rocket. Then they dump.

 

Wed, 02/18/2015 - 12:33 | 5799094 NotApplicable
NotApplicable's picture

I agree with the exception of the idea that the BRICS are coordinating anything. I'd say they too are tools being used to coordinate by the real powers behind the central banking curtains.

Wed, 02/18/2015 - 13:05 | 5799309 Pullmyfinger
Pullmyfinger's picture

If that were truly the case, then they clearly aren't very bright, since they will be relinquishing control over $trillions in assets, while apparently hoping for loyal acquience among a plethora of wealthy nonwhites as they shift their power base.

They must be third or fourth generation heirs to be THAT stupid....

oh....wait...

Wed, 02/18/2015 - 13:25 | 5799420 pipes
pipes's picture

"...coordinated...perfect storm, to destroy..."

 

Exactly the thought that was swirling around my head as I was reading the article.

 

While I have expected "collapse" for quite some time now - and been wrong (and amazed at the quo's ability to shuck-and-jive), the seeming convergence of events presently, makes me think "perhaps this time?"

Wed, 02/18/2015 - 20:11 | 5801349 Pullmyfinger
Pullmyfinger's picture

I know EXACTLY what you mean, Neo...

Wed, 02/18/2015 - 14:08 | 5799668 pitchpole
pitchpole's picture

Jim Willie, is that you?

Wed, 02/18/2015 - 20:08 | 5801343 Pullmyfinger
Pullmyfinger's picture

: )

I'm not that smart.

Wed, 02/18/2015 - 14:17 | 5799716 10mm
10mm's picture

The effort not by BRICS, but by Globalist/NWO. Reciepients BRICS.

Wed, 02/18/2015 - 14:50 | 5799895 Caleb Abell
Caleb Abell's picture

Can you give a site where the 140K longshoreman salary is explained?

Wed, 02/18/2015 - 20:06 | 5801339 Pullmyfinger
Pullmyfinger's picture

not immediately. but it was in an article on ZH just a couple of days ago.

Wed, 02/18/2015 - 15:19 | 5800101 Son of Captain Nemo
Son of Captain Nemo's picture

Well done pmf

A+++ on your assignment!

Wed, 02/18/2015 - 11:37 | 5798746 Nostradumbass
Nostradumbass's picture

I see an opportunity here.

With all these ships milling about, you could take your boat out and provide some booze and women for the merchant sailors.

Wed, 02/18/2015 - 14:23 | 5799738 Caleb Abell
Caleb Abell's picture

What do you mean by that?  Are you saying merchant sailors are like Secret Service Agents?

Wed, 02/18/2015 - 17:17 | 5800674 Nostradumbass
Nostradumbass's picture

What do you mean by that?  Are you saying merchant sailors are like Secret Service Agents?

 

Sort of. Except probably uglier, poorer, smellier and not into fancy coctails.

;)


Wed, 02/18/2015 - 11:39 | 5798759 Farmer Joe in B...
Farmer Joe in Brooklyn's picture

Personally, I find this whole issue decidedly frustrating and inconvenient.  It will ABSOLUTELY give the fed/govt something to blame for our lousy economic state for another quarter. 

Delaying the inevitable moment when the truth peeks out through the lies and propaganda.  Given that my "short" on the market is long puts, that's more theta I've got to eat. 

Fucking unions....

Wed, 02/18/2015 - 13:26 | 5799426 Theta_Burn
Theta_Burn's picture

The Burn does suck eh?

Wed, 02/18/2015 - 11:41 | 5798767 Son of Captain Nemo
Son of Captain Nemo's picture

GOOD!

Let it clog up every fucking port in the Country till it takes a year to clear it out and let the likes of Walmart rot with it!!!

Displaced over abundance of U.S. labor on those docks that make far too money in the first place that could be doing honest work elsewhere had we not offshored everything 20 years ago!

Wed, 02/18/2015 - 11:45 | 5798797 Magnum
Magnum's picture

Tell that to the farmers who can't sell their goods, or the manufacturer who's waitng for inputs.  It is not good in any way shape or form to close your ports of trade.  Ever.  Allowing a small gang of overpaid chumps to block your nation's trade is something you might find in some African country.

Wed, 02/18/2015 - 12:01 | 5798849 Son of Captain Nemo
Son of Captain Nemo's picture

M

We let the unions get way out of control too many years ago and the fiasco of GM that happened right before the 2012 elections is a case in point.

Farmers?  How many of the them in the U.S. still own there own land? And why the fuck do we need to be trading belgian endive for American Romaine lettuce?  I don't need to go to Europe to do my shopping and I remember before I had any gray in my hair when we didn't and more Americans were certainly in agriculture in those day and owned the land they farmed!

Not that any of these computer hardware manufacturers make anything in the U.S. anymore having moved their corporation overseas long ago.  This is what the American people voted for twice that shows us this kind of leadership! And this after the worst news possible came out with the Russian based engineering firm that provided an in-depth report to how severe the NSA was compromising commercial technology to eavesdrop on the rest of the World!

We're all out to lunch!

Wed, 02/18/2015 - 12:34 | 5799101 WillyGroper
WillyGroper's picture

Your argument is red/blue.

Really, who has the money & who controls negotiations? Unions were neutered decades ago. Hint, management makes the decisions, union workers carry out their grunt directives.

Want to blather about GM? Just WTF stuck their nose in their business? GMAC? ALLY? 

You really sound like you have an ax to grind with anyone making more than you. Longshoreman paid with tax dollars? Don't think so. 

Pick a mafia, any mafia. 

Wed, 02/18/2015 - 13:34 | 5799479 Son of Captain Nemo
Son of Captain Nemo's picture

You really sound like you have an ax to grind with anyone making more than you. Longshoreman paid with tax dollars? Don't think so.

Fine WG

But that doesn't negate the problem and the increasingly deteriorating jobs situation in the U.S. of A. that continues unabated as our competitiveness for those highly paid "stevedores" that could be in engineering school making the next biggest energy breakthrough instead as OPEC continues to bleed it dry?!!!

Can't be stupid your whole life drinking beer and watching football on that big screen TV living the Union dues life as you watch tie jewel(s) in the crown of competitive technology get sold out from underneath us and go everywhere else but home!!!

Wed, 02/18/2015 - 14:03 | 5799645 WillyGroper
WillyGroper's picture

The job situation... by design. Nothing any of us can do about it as long as the psychopaths are in charge other than self sufficiency. 

Competitiveness you say? Yes, I heard that meme for years along with the job skills lie as they imported cheaper labor.

Next biggest energy breakthru...

It's already here, we just don't have access to it. What is available to the unwashed masses is at least 50 yrs behind. More bleeding & sheering to come. 

Wed, 02/18/2015 - 14:15 | 5799693 Son of Captain Nemo
Son of Captain Nemo's picture

Next biggest energy breakthru...  It's already here, we just don't have access to it.

Yes Grop

So when will the stevedores with all that money they make and the muscles between their ears look beyond their own "life is good when my job is simple and I don't need think too much" strategy to fix that problem before they lose a job that was never designed towards competitiveness as a "one world reserve currency" superpower that lost it's place 7 years ago!

I'll let Jim Grant finish that thought on the "macro"!


Wed, 02/18/2015 - 14:53 | 5799915 WillyGroper
WillyGroper's picture

IMO, eventually they will lose those jobs as has been going on in this country since Nixon/China & Reagan/Thatcher exporting the jobs.

Why do you fret about the money a stevedore makes, then ad hom?

Division is what TPTB want. It's easier to heard the sheep. Your focus on their pay or mental capabilities takes the focus off of what YOU can do & have control over as opposed to a complete exercise in futility focusing on what YOU have no control over. Wasted energy. Your energy.

 

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