As the United States economy continues to deal with a supply chain dilemma, the effects may be felt by Christmas shoppers this holiday season.
Zuoming Liu, a professor at the Mike Cottrell College of Business at the University of North Georgia, said on not only are some products harder to come by, but prices are going up as well.
"The pandemic led to our supply chain disruptions and meanwhile, our demand stayed the same because we work from home and we still have our incomes," Liu said. "Lower supply and higher demand are the two basic conditions for inflation."
Liu spoke on WDUN's "Newsroom" with Mitch Clarke Friday afternoon. He said the disruptions are complicated because of how large the U.S. economy is today.
"Now we have a very large and very complicated supply chain," Liu said. "We have a lot of suppliers and a lot of suppliers from overseas and other countries. Because the chain is so large, any small change and everything has to be adjusted. There are many factors we cannot control. That is why we have these things going on."
Liu said in many cases, the issue is not with the amount of a given product being produced but in the ability to transport it to and across the country.
"The logistics companies, because the economy shut down, it reduced their capacity for transportation. It turns out that was a very big mistake," Liu said. "The product is stuck somewhere. Either in wherehouses or you see the ports in the news. Each of those cargo ships carry thousands of containers, so we need more than a thousand trucks to haul it away to market."
Liu said it will take time for the supply chain situation to return to normal. In the mean time, he said one of the best ways to help the economy is not to buy more than you need.
"Like if we buy tissue paper, nobody buys two or three packs of tissue paper at one time. Just buy one pack, when it runs out go out and buy another pack," Liu said.
