The USA at the moment faces two very tough duties at dwelling.
In fact, readers have seen the tragic, devastating photographs and movies from North Carolina (and Georgia and Florida and elsewhere).
Total buildings, whole streets and whole villages have been just about wiped off the map by Cyclone Helen, and from all indications, assist from the authorities has been sluggish to come back. (Though that does not cease on a regular basis Individuals from doing what they’ve at all times achieved: serving to.)
Then got here the huge port strike that affected a lot of the East Coast and Gulf.
The 2 mixed are wreaking havoc on the financial system and, as you would possibly guess, persons are anxious. Very concerningly, we’re seeing claims of panic shopping for popping up on social media.
Costco rush?
Some individuals shared what they known as panic — or not less than fear — about shopping for at Costco. Clearly, like something on social media, take this with a grain of salt.
Person WillWng11 shared a video displaying an enormous line and carts stuffed with necessities like water and bathroom paper:
Person Chelsarita advised an analogous story, her Costco bathroom paper part was utterly empty.
For these of you who frequent Costco, you already know that there’s often sufficient bathroom paper to provide the British Navy.
This is not the one Costco the place persons are reporting bathroom paper shortages, both:
Irrespective of the place you look, it appears to be the identical story:
Native Information 12 in New Jersey studies that retailer clerks are restocking greater than common in anticipation of the inflow of shoppers:
The difficulty on the port stems from a strike by some 50,000 members of the Worldwide Longshoremen’s Union for greater wages.
The calls for reportedly embrace a 77% pay enhance, though a few third of union members earn greater than $200,000 a yr.
If the union can not attain an settlement, a strike instantly following a lethal hurricane on the identical coast could be a recipe for catastrophe.
How a lot assist these individuals acquired is an open query relating to this hurricane. At the least one rescue pilot – a former narcotics deputy – reported he was threatened with arrest after rescuing a number of individuals in his helicopter.
There isn’t any doubt that if the scenario isn’t resolved quickly, we are going to face an ideal storm of a humanitarian catastrophe.
