Panicking, they say, never helps anything. 

That makes sense, but ask anybody who is in the business of resilience and they will tell you that the best way to avoid panic is to be prepared. 

America is not prepared for what is coming if the dockworkers' strike lasts very long. Watch this video to the end. 

This is the President of the dock workers from Maine to Texas. They go on strike today, first time since 1977. This stops all shipping from coming ashore on the entire eastern seaboard all the way down to the Gulf of Mexico. I suggest you stock up TODAY on what you might need. pic.twitter.com/iN1MsCveDA

— John Rich🇺🇸 (@johnrich) October 1, 2024

Anybody who lived through 2020, 2021, and 2022 (which I presume was all of my readers, unless something weird is happening in the space-time continuum) knows what supply chain disruptions can do to an economy. And the disturbances to The Force that we lived through will be nothing compared to what a complete shutdown of our East Coast and Gulf Coast ports will do to the economy. 

If you want a description of the dispute, this isn't the right article. Others are covering the negotiations much better than I can. Beege wrote about the topic last week, and you can find a lot of coverage out there if you look. 

But it would help if you didn't HAVE to look. This could turn out to be the most important sleeper issue of the campaign if the strike lasts more than a few days. 

Harold J Daggett, the President of the International Longshoreman's Union, knows exactly how much power he has over the country. If you watched the video you can see in his eyes and hear in his voice the determination to stick it out and to use the enormous power he has to bring the country to its knees. 

There are only about 45,000 longshoremen on strike, but they play a critical role in the economy. They control much of the supply chain, and there is remarkably little resilience in that chain. Day-to-day efficiency and resilience don't go hand-in-hand. In fact, they are at war with each other. We don't have stockpiles; we have just in time. 

I don't know if everything will break down as quickly as Daggett warns, but everything will, indeed, break down if the strike is not resolved quickly--and it won't come back online nearly as quickly as we need. The pain is now inevitable unless the strike ends this week. 

President Joe Biden: I don't believe in Taft-Hartley pic.twitter.com/t80TeDvW12

— Jeff Stein (@JStein_WaPo) October 1, 2024

You can bet Kamala Harris is deeply worried, or at least the people with brains that work in her campaign. And Joe Biden has shown no inclination to intervene, as he has statutory power to do, mandating a cooling off period of 90 days. 

Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said last month that she was "not familiar" with the downward revision in the jobs numbers.

Today, she said on TV that she's "not very focused" on a potential port strike that could cripple commerce.

What exactly does this person do all day? pic.twitter.com/9Po6xfkhyM

— Greg Price (@greg_price11) September 30, 2024

The Biden/Harris administration has been asleep at the switch. Gina Raimondo, whose job is to focus on preventing disasters like this, said she's "not very focused" on the issue. Which, if nothing else, is totally on brand for the Biden administration. 

We are all rightly focused on tactical issues that move a few votes in any direction. Still, with war escalating in the Middle East and the longshoreman's strike hitting today, Kamala Harris' campaign is at the most significant risk it has ever faced. If this strike goes on a week to ten days, her campaign may be done. 

It's that serious, and so far, Joe Biden has shown no inclination to help her out.