Economist Dr. Loren Scott talks about the breakdown in the global supply chain and how it will affect the US and Louisiana consumers.

"It's going to be a strange, a very strange Christmas," says Scott, explaining the growing scarcity of a variety of goods due to container ship backups of four weeks or more at major US ports. "I think I would start ordering now instead of waiting til November. If you want that one special gift...it makes sense to order very early because of this unique supply chain issue we've got going on."

Here's the complete audio of Dr. Scott on KEEL:

More and more manufacturers are reeling from shortages of key components and materials and find themselves in bidding wars, causing prices to skyrocket. And what shortages could we see here in Louisiana? "The first thing you think of is, being Christmas time, is toys," says Scott, "I think one of the things that has people a little more worried...is pharmaceuticals manufactured in China. And some of them are very critical ones."

"This whole supply chain thing that was caused by COVID is starting to make a lot of (companies) rethink what they've done. I think you're going to see a lot of activity that was normally sent...to China, I think firms are going to start rethinking that and start bringing some of that business back to (America).

"The good news is the vaccinations are starting to work, you're starting to see a drop in COVID and hopefully that will start resolving some of the issues at our ports."

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