In case you’ve already forgotten the last few months of 2021, here’s a little refresher: fueled by breathless Republican talking points, there was frenzied speculation that supply chain issues would ruin Christmas and packages would arrive weeks late. 

Not only did this Christmas “crisis” totally fail to materialize, new indicators point to the fact that supply chain issues and the situation at our ports are continuing to improve, thanks to President Biden’s leadership. On top of that, new data also shows signs that inflation is cooling and job growth remains strong.

Not only is the situation at our ports improving, but a new report indicates that supply chain issues will continue to ease.

CNBC: “Global supply chain pressures may have peaked, a new index suggests”

CNN: “Port of Los Angeles traffic sets record in 2021”

The Hill: “The White House pointed to data from the Port of Los Angeles and the Port of Long Beach that they processed 14 percent more containers compared to those processed in 2018 over the same time period, which set a record high, in a memo on Wednesday.”

CNN: “Since October the ports have seen a combined decline of 35% in ‘aging’ cargo on the docks — and a 50% decline in Los Angeles alone.”

And let’s not forget the Christmas crisis that wasn’t. Despite the wild speculation, shelves were stocked, consumer demand was strong, and nearly 100% of packages arrived on time for the holidays. 

New York Times’ Paul Krugman: “There was a lot of skepticism a couple of months back, when major retailers said that despite supply issues, they expected to be able to meet consumer demand. But I’ve seen almost no reports of empty shelves and frustrated shoppers. And in this case absence of evidence really is evidence of absence, because you know that some media organizations would have loved to hype stories of holiday woe if they could find them.”

New York Times: “The UPS and the Postal Service delivered about 99 percent of their packages on time by that measure between Nov. 14 and Dec. 11, and FedEx was close behind at 97 percent, according to ShipMatrix.”

Reuters: “Christmas supply-chain crisis has been averted, Biden and FedEx CEO declare”

Marketplace: “According to Mastercard’s SpendingPulse report, holiday retail sales were up 8.5% over 2020.”

But that’s not all. New data also shows signs that inflation is cooling and job growth remains strong, despite the breathless Republican talking points.

Bloomberg: “Inflation Shows Signs of Cooling in U.S. Manufacturing Data”

CNN’s Jim Sciutto: “New: December jobs report comes in at double expectations. Economists had predicted 400,000 private sector jobs were added last month, but the report by ADP registered 807,000 new jobs.”

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