The global supply chain is finally unkinking itself

This is Bloomberg Opinion Today, an unkinking supply chain of Bloomberg Opinion’s opinions. Sign up here.Today’s Agenda Supply-chain problem [Bloomberg]( Follow Us [Get the newsletter]( This is Bloomberg Opinion Today, an unkinking supply chain of Bloomberg Opinion’s opinions. [Sign up here](. Today’s Agenda - Supply-chain problems [may have peaked](. - The Great Resignation [really isn’t a resignation](. - Full employment is [closer than we think](. - The [737 Max is back](. The Supply Chain Is Coming Unkinked For months America has been besieged by a crisis of Little Shortages Everywhere, which has threatened everything we hold dear, from [pizzas]( to gaming [consoles](. Supply-chain nightmares had us shopping for [holiday]( gifts/emotional support toys like the [Purrble]( calming toy companion with dynamic heartbeat and soothing purrs, which I may or may not have ordered for my office desk, in October, for God’s sake. But ever since that month, Brooke Sutherland has been [saying]( the worst of our [national supply-chain nightmare might already be over](. We keep getting evidence she’s right. For one thing, though they’re as slow as a container ship stuck in the Suez Canal, global shipping prices are turning in the right direction: As you can see with your eyeballs, prices are still high. But companies and consumers have navigated these disruptions fine so far, even if they’re deeply unhappy about it. U.S. factories are cranking out [more stuff]( for us to buy, as our forefathers intended. The crisis isn’t over, but the end may be in sight. Bonus Supply-Chain Reading: [Women like Victoria’s Secret again](, but the supply chain wants to keep them apart. — Tara Lachapelle The Great Resignation Is Great, But Not a Resignation The term “Great Resignation” might conjure up images of vast hordes of people just getting up and wandering away from their desks to walk into the ocean or maybe an Amazon [warehouse](. But it’s better than that. Justin Fox checked the numbers and discovered the Great Resignation is really mostly [low-paid people inviting their employers]( to take their jobs and [shove]( them and then trading up to better, higher-paying jobs. This is raising wages for lower-income workers, which feels sort of like an unabashedly good thing? There is the risk it makes inflation even longer-lasting, I guess. And Conor Sen points out the labor market is improving fast, bringing jobs and higher wages to millions so quickly that we could be back to [something like full employment by mid-2022](. That could be the dinner bell for the Fed to start raising interest rates, though hopefully by then it won’t have to worry about killing off the recovery. Hopefully. Bonus Economics Reading: - Strong consumer spending [could be a sign of inflation worries](. — Michael R. Strain - Milton [Friedman is being vindicated](. — Tyler Cowen The Max Is Back One of the biggest stories of the Before Times, back when people still got on airplanes without thinking twice about it, was the tragedy of the Boeing 737 Max. The plane killed hundreds of passengers in two crashes, a debacle [mismanaged]( by Boeing at almost every turn, whether you believe the plane was “[designed]( by clowns, who in turn are supervised by monkeys,” as one Boeing employee alleged. Not even a 21-month (and [counting]() pandemic has fully erased this memory, which raises the question: Would you want to get on a 737 Max? It’s a trick question: You may not have a choice. Boeing and its regulators have tightened the plane’s safety precautions and put it back on the market — and [carriers are snapping it up](, writes David Fickling. Turns out, checkered past or no, airlines don’t want to leave the field wide open to Airbus, which might gouge them on prices and make them speak French or Dutch or whatever. That means someday in the near future you could be boarding a 737 Max. Let’s assume no clowns will be involved. Telltale Charts [Deutsche Bank is back in the circle of creditor trust](, meaning it may have an easier time attracting trading business, writes Paul J. Davies. Further Reading The world must respond seriously to [Russia’s dangerous satellite destruction](. — Bloomberg’s editorial board [Putin won’t invade Ukraine]( and risk delaying the opening of Nord Stream 2. — Leonid Bershidsky If Rupert [Murdoch wants Donald Trump to move on]( from 2020, he has [cough, Fox News, cough] ways of helping. — Tim O’Brien Apple’s decision to [let consumers repair their own stuff]( is a huge turn for the industry. — Adam Minter Zillow thought its problem was [making too much money]( on flipping houses. — Matt Levine Inflation makes the [SALT deduction less beneficial](. — Alexis Leondis Inflation makes old rules about [how to spend your retirement savings obsolete](. — Allison Schrager ICYMI Apple wants to [make a fully autonomous car](. The [ultra-rich are dodging estate taxes]( and crushing government revenue. [Masks cut Covid risks in half](, a new study shows. Kickers American tourists [busted for drinking in Rome’s Colosseum](. (h/t Scott Kominers) There could be an [mRNA answer to Lyme disease](. How [Ben Franklin foiled counterfeiters](. Maybe what our [cities need is more beavers](. Notes:  Please send counterfeit money and complaints to Mark Gongloff at mgongloff1@bloomberg.net. [Sign up here]( and follow us on [Twitter]( and [Facebook](. Like Bloomberg Opinion Today? [Subscribe to Bloomberg All Access and get much, much more](. You’ll receive our unmatched global news coverage and two in-depth daily newsletters, The Bloomberg Open and The Bloomberg Close. Before it’s here, it’s on the Bloomberg Terminal. Find out more about how the Terminal delivers information and analysis that financial professionals can’t find anywhere else. [Learn more](. You received this message because you are subscribed to Bloomberg's Bloomberg Opinion Today newsletter. [Unsubscribe]( | [Bloomberg.com]( | [Contact Us]( [Ads Powered By Liveintent]( | [Ad Choices]( Bloomberg L.P. 731 Lexington, New York, NY, 10022