Get your wallets ready.
The economy is reopening while the government pumps a lot of financial support into it. On a broad level, it signals a potential new era, or regime, in financial markets because of attitudes about debt and inflation. But on Main Street, it means things are about to get more expensive.
With $1,400 stimulus checks going out to an increasingly vaccinated society, Americans are ready to spend. But many industries are struggling to keep up with the beginning of a surge in customer demand. There's a big shortage of many products and the materials needed to make them, and it's partly down to mismatch of supply and and demand, partly because of the pandemic itself, and at least a little due to bad weather.
First off, some companies didn't properly estimate what spending habits would look like as the economy shifted toward reopening and now don't have enough supply. As imports have picked back up, key US ports on the West Coast have become congested, pushing delivery dates back and driving prices higher. Severe weather around the world further complicated matters, from the Texas freeze halting oil production to a drought in Brazil damaging coffee and other crops.
Finally, the way the government measures prices was thrown off by the pandemic - the normal rules on inflation don't apply right now.
It's unclear how long these shortages will last and what their long-term impact will be. But Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said in a recent press conference that he thinks supply chains will be able to acclimate to growing consumer demand. "It's not like the supply side will be unable to adapt to these things," he said. "It will - the market will clear. It just may take some time."
Here's everything that the US is short on these days, and what you might end up paying more for.