Joe Talks the Walk To Port Strikers

Today's port strike will not only bring another hit to farmers estimated at $5B, but will invariably be passed on to struggling consumers. Meanwhile, if anything, Joe & Kamala twiddle with same failed diplomacy ignored in Gaza & Ukraine.

A recent Fox Business story had focused on the devastating economic fallout from such a union strike that would cripple many critical imports & the industries that rely on them. But at the real heart of the matter, then & now, was the Biden Administration’s strange reliance on doing nothing but perhaps talk reason to resolve this & just about every other problem facing the nation; that is, except perhaps the “existential global warming problem” it seems to see in regulating everything from gas ovens to farting cows. As an unrelated WSJ op ed suggested but before the strike was launched Monday night, it was proactive policies ala a Netanyahu, not diplomacy alone, that often softens or avoids future problems on the world stage. In “Israel’s Deterrence Lesson for Biden,” the editors explained: “Israel’s strike … against Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah is a [long overdue] justified defensive act against an enemy backed by Iran & bent on the Jewish state’s destruction. It’s also a lesson for the Biden Administration in how to deter an enemy using military force instead of hopeless pleading for restraint & “de-escalation.”

But, I digress. The projected $5 billion dollar hit to the economy by the worker strike at ports from Maine to Texas was forecasted by JP Morgan & it comes at a time when “US farmers are already dealing with an economic downward spiral” and inflated grocery costs were killing marginal households. Yet, 45K unionized dockworkers in the International Longshoremen’s Assn insisted they needed to go on strike beginning Oct 1 if an agreement to their liking wasn’t reached. Meanwhile, NBC quoted Biden-Harris Sommerce Sec. Raimondo: "I have not been very focused on that." Great. If the strike does lead to more grief for farmers, consumers & pollsters alike, will Joe finally take action like President Reagan did to end the air controllers walk out that had threatened to cripple the nation’s critical airline industry? Or, will he continue to urge the parties (ala Netanyahu & Zelensky) to keep talking until their ears fall off?

Davd Soul