Supplies Running Out?

I believe the key to the paradox between the pandemic induced, economic slow down and the record results in equity markets is the way we are buying everything has changed. Directly to the OP's point, I think any business that invested in internet sales to keep up with Amazon is finding that investment is paying off in labor and specifically a need for inventory on hand. Folks buying on line means a just-in-time inventory saves a retailer big $$$. Every once in awhile there is a miss either in shipping or production however. As far as lumber, 25% of all of our supply comes from Canada. They have suffered from a long battle with the mountain pine beetle and the glut of inexpensive salvage timber is running out. Our current trade relationship has been under a little stress lately as well. Local timber is poised to fill in the void but we are going to be paying what it is actually worth. Finally the dollar has been dropping in value steadily for the last 6 months. Obviously making things seem a little more expensive to buy, but less obvious is how changing from a strong dollar to a lesser one messes with international trade in the short term. Unfortunately, where most of our stuff comes from any more.