Missing Pete B.

What does Pete have to do with Covid, troll?

No, OP. Now piss off.

Post-partum depression?

This is a little more complicated than fining poor proplr for not keeping their lawns mowed in South Bend.

*poor people

Yeah, blame it on Pete Brady.

Pete Burns? Yes, I miss him too. Sadly he really damaged his face with all the plastic surgery.

R7 You mean that look wasn’t natural? LOL it was so lifelike.

Nobody told me being Secretary of Transportation was related to stuff being transported.

If Pete Burns was Transportation Secretary, he could berth five container ships on his inflated lips!

It's the unvaxxed workers causing this, not Pete.

Ports backed up, insufficient capacity, and a shortage of truck drivers (a job, not coincidentally, that no young people will take not because they're lazy but because they're smart and see the future with self-driving trucks)... gosh, if only there were an infrastructure bill that could deal with all this and more!

Yeah, let's throw $3.5 trillion dollars out there and magically make it happen!

The funny thing is the mandate never actually happened. Biden said it but no law was passed and no order signed.

Still waiting for furniture ordered in June. This is a FUCKING NIGHTMARE.

These goddamn anti-vaxxers have caused nothing but trouble.

Secretary Pete posted this 16 hours ago

There's only so much Biden, Pete and others can do. The vaccine is widely and easily available...there are campaigns all over on TV, social media about taking the vaccine. Even mandatory vaccination rules in companies, hospitals, schools and government workers...get it, or lose your job. It seems the anti-vaxxers don't mind losing their jobs and many have walked out and quit. The pushback is getting harder....digging in their heels the higher the mandate. So...what can they do? Go to peoples' homes and force them? Not a good idea....they'll be waiting with a gun. Good 'ol USA...

I am as liberal as most of you are, but you have to stop blaming this on the unvaxxed.

75% of the population has had at least one shot. Of the remaining 25%, at least 10% of them have had Covid, so they have immunity. Do the math: over 85% of the population has immunity. For the normal school vaccines, like mumps and measles, the rate is only 90 - 92%. I got a measles shot when I was a kid, and the only reason I got a booster as an adult was because I was traveling to Africa.

The problem is not the unvaxxed, it’s the pandemic closures and the government unemployment $$$ that kept people out of the workforce. You can’t solve a problem until you understand what it actually is.

[Quote] The pushback is getting harder....

Yup. Because they're allowed to get away with it.

I don't know....the threat of losing your job is pretty forceful. These people don't seem to care. So...are we supposed to support them with our tax dollars now? Businesses have opened up and allowing them to return to work. People are now spoiled into thinking they don't need to work... we'll take care of them..or the gov'ment will take care of the "stay out of our lives" idiots. They don't like government and socialism, but love the handouts.

[quote]I am as liberal as most of you are, but

Real liberals don't spew reactionary propaganda. As has been explained exhaustively, emergency benefits have not been keeping people out of the workforce. "Pandemic closures" aren't an issue, especially in 2021. And your inane public health analysis isn't going to convince any rational person, particularly employers who don't want to take the risk of losing employees to illness or letting them infect customers.

Pete is handling it. It is odd, though, that only Fox Business News is giving him credit.

If you Google his name, the other news outlets are piling on him.

[Quote] People are now spoiled into thinking they don't need to work...

Sure, some of these deadbeats will always be with us.

But most people want to work I think. It's key to self worth. They just want better working conditions and reasonable pay. Is that too much to ask for?

Isn't it because Americans won't work for the money and in the conditions offered that we get so many migrant workers who can be taken advantage of and are more easily exploited?

If businesses suffer, maybe it's because goods and services are not priced according to the actual costs of production.

Maybe moving manufacturing abroad to skirt labor laws and taxes, and then importing the cheap goods costs more than we realize.

Consequently, taxation and accounting systems may be skewed too much in favor of private enterprise at the cost of the social good.

Lots of maybes, because these are deep ingrained issues.

Pete is getting trashed on Twitter. the repugs are blaming the entire thing on Pete and the dems are too stupid to defend themselves

So 5% of the country will hear this shit and remember it on voting day

[quote] Maybe moving manufacturing abroad to skirt labor laws and taxes, and then importing the cheap goods costs more than we realize.

Blasphemy.

The economy was going to hell under Trump and his constant promises that the Covid will just magically disappear. No one was buying hardly anything, except for his cult followers were buying all Trump's lies, because they were either out of work, or staying home most of the time. A lot of truckers were laid off or just let go. Now with Biden and the vaccines the economy is coming back, more people are working, they have more money in their pockets and are traveling, working and buying. Unfortunately they are buying record amounts crap from overseas, I guess they have to since Trump's promise to bring all that manufacturing back to the US was just another Trump LIE. It is hard to get people back into the trucking industry once they leave, you can't turn it around over night. If you think it is bad now, I sure trust the Biden administration to be on it more than Trump, and his ass kissing cult followers.

Plus under Biden, I don't have to worry about losing our democracy like I did with Trump.

None of this explains why food prices are going up.

Biden is trying to end the use of oil in the US and that will cause gas prices to soar and cost of food to go up. We went through this in the 1970s with that other loser Jimmy Carter.

I just ordered a new set of bed sheets that are on back order. THANKS A LOT, JOE BIDEN!

Regular, middle class Americans hate Biden and the democrats way more than you leftists ever hated orange-man-bad. This is more accurately described as {italic}visceral{/italic}. This is just the beginning of slowdown '21.

[quote] We went through this in the 1970s with that other loser Jimmy Carter.

Resulting in 12 years of republicans in the White House

The pilot sickout was a lie. The pileup in LA ports is due to the Far East's Covid problems, not ours. People who claim to be "as liberal as anyone" and then go on to blather Fox News talking points are also liars.

[quote] Biden is trying to end the use of oil in the US and that will cause gas prices to soar

R28 you must have failed Econ 101, using less of something has never caused the price to soar in the history of mankind. Stop watching FOX it is making you stupid.

This is the fault of the private sector who send all the factories overseas with the help of republicans who gave them a tax incentive to do so.

And also the trucking companies who wanted to treat their employees like slaves.

And also Wal-Mart.

[quote] I just ordered a new set of bed sheets that are on back order. THANKS A LOT, JOE BIDEN!

Costco is out of toilet paper again. Im having to resort to rationing and reusing it now. Thanks A Lot, Joe Biden for my smelly ass.

Americans have noticed increasing prices everywhere from the gas pump to grocery store aisles. Inflation has hit a 30-year high. Economists and political pundits are shifting their tone, away from denying its existence (recall the White House’s “save 16 cents on your July 4th BBQ” approach) to preparing the public for the current and coming pain. Media narratives now reflect that price hikes aren’t “going away very soon” to full risk of “runaway” inflation. Inflated prices already have hit double digits overseas and cost the average household more than $2,000 annually.

I am surprised you racist Trump cult followers aren't still trying to blame Obama for everything.

[quote] The national average for a gallon of regular unleaded stands at $3.27, according to AAA. That’s $1.09 more than a year ago

Who ever wrote that head line is dumber than R28, an increase from $2.18 to $3.27 is NOT TRIPLE, prices would have to be $6.48 to be triple.

International shipping involves multiple departments, particularly the Department of Commerce. Port authorities involve state and local governments and thus, not complete federal jurisdictions. The Department of Health and Human Services controls most vaccine distributions and has a major role in setting policy with input from the CDC and other federal agencies. Pete Buttigieg and the Transportation Department don't set vaccine requirements for longshoremen.

Oh, and this is an ignorant troll thread. FF

I was hoping OP was the Dead or Alive troll.

Why the free marketers freaking out over the free market gyrating wildly in the wake of a pandemic resulting in a worldwide economic crisis? Of course gas prices have gone up from 18 months ago; that was just after the shock of the massive shutdowns, when the pipeline (figuratively) was running at full speed to keep cars and trucks on the road. All of a sudden, within a period of time far too short for this complicated and fragile fuel manufacturing and distributing system to react, demand decreased by more than 50%. Half of the production facility had to be shut down and inventory sold, stored or disposed of. It's not a lightbulb that can be flipped back on at full speed. The price of oil — not just gas, but all the products made with oil — is going to go up before it comes back down, if it ever does. This all seems elemental to me, but I studied economics in high school.

What I don't understand at all is why there hasn't been more blaming of Trump for this entire mess. It wasn't just that he was inept and incapable of dealing with the medical and public health aspects of the pandemic, but he completely failed preparing the business community for what was about to happen. Hence, the oil industry was just plain fucked; the global supply chain (and the hundreds of millions of jobs worldwide that it represents) was pulled apart, and instead of an orderly, controlled response, we were left hoarding toilet paper and pasta. Business should be furious with Trump that he did nothing to prepare and instead focused on happy talk, bleach, and hydroxychloroquine.

Compare and contrast this scenario with what unfolded just a few months later. Trump wouldn't work with the incoming administration (as we're coming to see that he really thought he was going to pull off a coup) so Biden had no idea of what preparations had been made, what agreements and contracts were negotiated, nothing. Nevertheless, he hit the ground running and managed to pull off the fastest, most organized, and effective vaccine distribution and administration system the world has ever seen. R19 incorrectly reports both the vaccinated percentage (as of today, it is 66% and 57% of the nation is fully vaccinated) as well as the effect of so-called "natural immunity." The science shows that infection antibodies wear off in a matter of months (in the single digits) while the vaccine goes from 94% effective to 86% at 6 months after the second dose (which is why we're going to get boosters). We haven't reached herd immunity yet and we won't until the Trumptards finally get vaccinated, even if they get infected and recover.

Vaccinations and COVID aren't the only thing. It's also old outdated infrastructure used in the ports that are decades behind major ports in Asia. Just like our airports and public transportation.

You think China's ports were going to miss a beat because of some vaccination? Bitch please. They have robots to step in to make sure that cheap shit can be sold to Americans at a mark up!

China doesn't have to right dockworkers unions. It was a major struggle to get even containerized cargo for US ports.

OP you are right. Pete Buttigieg is a failure......NYP just called him a spitballer. He doesn't know how to do his job. Completely incompetent. He has made numerous mistakes in the first 8 months of employment. DC knows he is a complete joke. He refuses to do talk shows now because he knows he will get asked about how ridiculous of a job he is doing.

UGH!

But when they offered me this job they told me being Secretary of Transportation just meant I would be "inspecting" the interstate truck stops and those big sweaty truck drivers.

[quote] Still waiting for furniture ordered in June. This is a FUCKING NIGHTMARE.

Well then brace yourself because three months is hardly a nightmare. I ordered a refrigerator in July 2020 that did not arrive until February 2021

My local news said that so many of the restaurants around Atlanta have had to switch to take out only because they can't hire enough wait staff. And they interviewed a restaurant owner who went on about how he was all about customer service

That's the problem. Businesses only care about the customer. They don't give 2 fucks about their employees. If the customer calls a corporate customer service number and complains about an employee, that employee gets fired.

Stuff like that is why people don't want to go back to retail/service jobs. You see how these lunatic customers acted in the stores when asked to wear a mask. They act that way whenever they don't get their own way

Uh Oh....Fox News (and The Five) is starting to ask "Where is Pete".....Not a good look for President Biden to have an absentee (and incompetent) Transportation Secretary..Biden will throw Pete under the bus and get someone new in before Pete even makes it a year on the job. Wait and See...

Transportation is moving people. Moving cargo is commerce.

OP forgot to take her hormones today.

I’m here!

[quote]Uh Oh....Fox News (and The Five) is starting to ask "Where is Pete".....Not a good look

Oh R50, it's only "not a good look" for your fellow addled Trumpheads. If Fox hadn't come up with this one they'd be harping on some other bogus accusation.

He’s a new dad so he’s got a lot on his plate

In fairness, no one told him the job would be more than bicycling around Washington and posing for Instagram.

Leave Pete alone.

He’s checking with McKinsey

An Over-the-Road truck driver on a call-in radio show said one the problems in getting stuff across America is Teamster's Union. While trucks may be lined-up to transport products, the union demands only their members can unload containers, And won't allow Independent truckers to carry the goods. As Cornelius Vanderbilt, President of the New York Central Railroad said "The public be damned."

Pete being gone for 2 months seems excessive as fuck given the issues this country is facing. Many of those issues are under his departments purview. If he had been elected President would he had taken 2 months off for those adopted children? I also question how effective he’s been as secretary if he can be gone for 2 months into a 10 month old administration that is trying the pass the largest infrastructure package since the 2009.

This just isn’t a great look but it’s blip that will be forgotten. Paternity leave is important, but when you have so much at stake and a spouse that’s not doing shit at home, why would you need all this time. Not like they birthed either child and they are babies so not much will be missed.

[quote]If he had been elected President would he had taken 2 months off for those adopted children?

Same thing I said. If you're appointed to a position with that level of responsibility, you kind of have to work overtime and forget your personal perquisites. Plus most Americans don't get paternity leave and this just looks like privilege. Especially at this time.

A colon needs to be added to the thread title. "Missing: Pete B."

[quote]He’s a new dad so he’s got a lot on his plate.

I have a lot on my plate, and it's... Yummo!!!!!😋

The operators of Los Angeles-area ports say President Joe Biden’s round-the-clock cargo mandate is not realistic, according to a report .

The president recently called for the shipping hubs to go into overdrive to ease the supply-chain crunch that has more than a hundred loaded freighters anchored off the coast. But 24/7 operations would cost the ports huge money in overtime, and the owners aren't eager to eat the expense.

“I don’t see how the terminals are going to be reimbursed. It’s big money,” Ed DeNike, president of SSA Containers, whose parent company Carrix operates three terminals in Long Beach, told the Journal of Commerce.

Standard terminal hours are Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. with some weekday nights until 3 a.m. Work slows significantly on Saturdays and shuts down completely on Sundays, the Washington Examiner discovered . Fully opening the terminals, including a 3 a.m. to 8 a.m. shift, is expensive, and truckers likely wouldn’t show up, the Journal reported.

DeNike said delivering containers to truckers on a graveyard shift costs $200 per container versus $35 to $40 during the first two shifts.

“We tell them, ‘Here is your cost. We’ll be open if someone is going to pay us,’” DeNike said, adding that SSA has not attracted enough interest to warrant expansion.

Last month, Total Terminals International agreed to run the third shift at its Long Beach pier Monday through Thursday and received two trucks over three days, the Journal reported. A third operator, Yusen Terminals, also said little interest existed but would staff the gates if needed.

------------

The government might have to do something to fight back against the unions and allow cheaper, non-union longshoremen to work the extra hours.

Chasity is never going to shed that post-baby weight.

[quote] The government might have to do something to fight back against the unions and allow cheaper, non-union longshoremen to work the extra hours.

Trump would buck the unions. Biden won't, regardless of the consequences

Did he solve the problem?

r68 yes