ALISON STEWART: Right now, there are 29 ports affected from Southern California up to Washington State. And the backlog has been its worst in the past week, since this whole thing started.
So, what does that mean for an average consumer?
CHRISTOPHER THORNBERG: Not much at this particular point in time.
You know, I realize that it’s easy to make big news about these ports. You hear all the rhetoric about these being an important, almost, if you will, an artery of the U.S. economy, and if it gets cut off, we almost think about the body economy bleeding out, as the case may be.
But those kind of views are highly overstated. Go to your local supermarket, go to your local department store, the shelves are stuffed with products and goods.
Nobody in the United States is being denied any kind of consumption choice as a result of these disruptions. And, candidly, it would take a very long time for that to happen.
The ports are a cheap and convenient way of moving product in and out of the United States, but they are not the only way.
