The land of plenty has become a land of frustration. There have been shortages in recent years ranging from gas to milk. But never have I seen across the board supply problems like this.  

Due to a collision with a pothole, I lost three tires. My preferred brand of tire was not available. My tire dealer had trouble finding any tires to fit my car. I have new tires, but they are not the ones I wanted, and they do not have all of the features I would like. To make matters worse, due to inflation, these new tires were more expensive than my preferred ones.  

This week I went to a local fast-food restaurant. A sign was posted at the drive-thru that their truck was 24 hours behind schedule and some items on the menu might not be available. Orders for almost half of the food items on the menu, including the one I stopped there for, could not be filled. Only a couple of drink options were available.  

It has been a long time since I was the parent of a child needing baby formula. But I can’t imagine the frustration and panic of parents trying to locate formula for my child. 

 Semiconductors are in short supply so those wanting to buy a new car are dealing with less inventory to select from and a substantially higher price for what is on the lot. And that is one of the other issues.  

Some items can be found, but you might have to go to two or three places to find not only what you want, but what you need. That means using gas that is costing close to four dollars for regular and more than four dollars for mid-range and premium gas to go from place-to-place to find certain items.  

When you do find an item, the price is significantly more than you have been accustomed to paying. Inflation is continuing to climb. Higher gas prices are one of the reasons for these cost increases.  

Many businesses, especially restaurants of all sorts, are dealing with employee shortages. Help wanted signs are posted on so many buildings.  

So even if a business has what you want it might be working on a shorter time schedule due to a lack of help. Meat and dairy products are scarce, a trend expected to continue. It is projected eggs could be next.  

Fingers are being pointed in a variety of directions for the cause of these problems. Instead of worrying about who to blame for these problems we need to find a way to solve them.