The White House is warning American shoppers that they won't be able to get key items like popular kids toys for Christmas due to the ongoing supply chain nightmares that are strangling retail stores.
Stores across the country are becoming increasingly barren thanks to a series of bottlenecks in the global supply chain.
Many goods that are made in China - like toys, clothes, home appliances and more - are stuck either in factories there or in containers on board cargo ships off the coast that are waiting their turn to dock.
At almost every link in the chain, there is a shortage; there aren't enough yard workers to unpack the cargo on the ships quickly enough, nor are there enough drivers able to ferry them around on the ground. In stores, retailers don't have enough workers to unpack them once they arrive.
It has created a nightmare economic scenario where demand for goods is far outpacing supply, driving inflation and in turn raising prices for Americans.
President Biden will not comment on the issues at length, nor has he offered a solution for them. Earlier this year, he created a task force to tackle the issue, but so far they are yet to present a plan to fix the issues.
On Tuesday, instead of announcing a resolution, they warned the problems aren't going to get better anytime soon.
A Target store in Meford with half-empty shelves in the toy section. Toy manufacturers who produce goods in Asia are particularly affected by the issues. Some said they have $8million worth of goods just sitting in factories and warehouses in China, waiting to be shipped to the US for exorbitant cost
'There will be things that people can't get. At the same time, a lot of these goods are hopefully substitutable by other things...
'I don't think there's any real reason to be panicked, but we all feel the frustration and there's a certain need for patience to help get through a relatively short period of time,' a senior White House official told Reuters.
Another said: 'We recognize that it has pinched families who are trying to get back to some semblance of normalcy as we move into the later stages of the pandemic'
'We recognize that it has pinched families who are trying to get back to some semblance of normalcy as we move into the later stages of the pandemic'
White House official
But Biden is adamant the economy is doing well, despite poor jobs numbers and rising inflation.
Republicans are already anticipating a sad situation come the holidays.
Seth Weathers, a Republican strategist who ran Trump's Georgia campaign in 2016 said they see local impact.
'People here in Georgia are paying twice as much for items than they paid a year ago and they are blaming Biden. He's in charge.'
A recent op-ed by Steve Cortes, a one-time advisor to former President Donald Trump, dubbed the upcoming holiday season 'Biden's Blue Christmas,' continuing in a long tradition of conservatives criticizing Democrats over celebrations around the Christian holiday.
Biden is due to speak about the issue in a speech on Wednesday.
He has appointed John Porcardo, a bottleneck czar, to try to solve the problem quickly. Porcari was brought on in August, but the problems have worsened since then.
One of his proposed solutions is to make ports work during off-peak hours, round the clock.
California ports in Long Beach and Los Angeles have agreed to extended hours, and there are more to follow, he said.
'We need to make better use of that off-peak capacity and that really is the current focus.'
Some of the items being held hostage in factories in China by the global supply chain problems are Tonka Trucks and L.O.L. Dolls - both popular Christmas gifts
The administration is also seeking to restore inactive rail yards for extra container capacity and create "pop-up" rail yards to increase capacity.
'It's important to remember that the goods
