[Bloomberg]( Follow Us [Get the newsletter]( This is Bloomberg Opinion Today, a slaughterhouse of Bloomberg Opinionâs opinions. [Sign up here](. Todayâs Agenda - Todayâs meat and [chlorine]( shortage could be tomorrowâs [economic boom](.
- Cutting unemployment benefits [wonât cure unemployment](.
- Americans may just [work for themselves forever](.
- CEOs probably [arenât worth 5,000 times the average worker](. Grillinâ and chillinâ. Source: Found Image Holdings Inc./Archive Photos/Getty Images Shortages in Everything How was your Memorial Day weekend? Did you eat a bunch of grilled meat? Chill in the pool? Grillinâ and chillinâ, as nobody calls it? Well, hope those good times are locked in your memory, because both of those activities have fallen victim to, you guessed it, supply-chain problems. The meat thing isnât so surprising. Weâve had meat [troubles]( off and on throughout the pandemic. Chicken wings have been [scarce]( for a while, because everybody wants to [eat them](, and farmers for some reason find it âunethicalâ or âgrossâ to make chickens grow more than two of them. But now several slaughterhouses have been shut down by a [cyberattack](, making meat shortages even worse. We donât yet know if this was a ransomware attack like the one that hit the Colonial Pipeline. But if it was, then itâs a reminder that [cryptocurrencies make such attacks much easier to commit](, as Bloombergâs editorial board writes. Looking forward to your emails. Itâs also just the latest example of how 2021 is the year of the Ever Given ramming into the bank of the Suez Canal forever. Computer chips, cars, plastics, lumber and more are hard to find. Even [the chlorine tablets Americans dump in their swimming pools]( (not to be confused with the chlorine we use on [chicken]() are scarce, Brooke Sutherland writes, because of a lab fire and general global-trade tomfoolery. And itâs a lot harder to have a pool or grill when you donât have a house. [Supply problems have made those prices ridiculous]( too, notes Michael R. Strain, who argues for deregulating real estate to help. Until then, in many American cities [renting makes a lot more sense than buying](, writes Teresa Ghilarducci. All this rampant shortage has markets freaking out about inflation a little bit. But Conor Sen writes that, if and when the global container ship comes unstuck in 2022, [economic growth could be much faster than expected]( as we rush to make up for lost time grilling our Chicken à la Chlorine. Who Needs a Job Anyway? The other big shortage everybody is worried about is the labor shortage. Weâve hashed and rehashed the possible reasons people donât want to come back to work just yet. Some conservative governors have decided the real reason is overly generous unemployment benefits and have started cutting them off. Claudia Sahm explains why [this wonât magically end unemployment](. Many other changes need to happen to get people back to work. Among Claudiaâs suggestions is to simply make some jobs less terrible. Many workers discovered during the pandemic that they enjoyed the flexibility of not being forced to the meatpacking plant every day. Itâs probably no coincidence that, unlike in other recessions, [entrepreneurialism has surged during the pandemic](, Allison Schrager writes. This spirit hasnât gone away even as the economy has started to reopen. With people willing to [quit]( their jobs rather than go back to the office, this isnât surprising. Further Post-Pandemic Work Reading: If you must return to the office, hereâs [how to psych yourself up for it](. â Sarah Green Carmichael Whatâs a CEO Worth? Companies fought for years against being made to disclose the ratio of CEO to median-worker pay, and little wonder: [The results are embarrassing](, writes Michelle Leder. Admitting that corporate leaders routinely make more than 1,000 times the average worker does (and even those numbers are massaged) hasnât exactly slowed down CEO compensation. But it has at least made some companies a little more willing to boost worker pay. That might help with the whole labor-shortage thing. Telltale Charts A three-child policy [wonât be enough to revive Chinaâs birth rate](, writes David Fickling. That will take many more policy changes. (When reading the chart below, keep in mind that any fertility rate of two or less isnât enough to grow the population.) [Bonds and stocks are correlated in a way they havenât been]( for many years, a sign of real market worry about inflation, writes John Authers. Further Reading Naomi Osaka is [taking care of her mental health](. More of us should follow her example. â Andreas Kluth The pandemic has taught us that, contra economics, [people make bad decisions](.â Tyler Cowen Written off as a âbasket caseâ at its birth 50 years ago, [Bangladesh is now richer than its neighbors](. â Mihir Sharma We must [regulate stablecoins so they donât âbreak the buck](â when their underlying assets fall in value. â Timothy Massad [Israelâs new government probably wonât last long]( and certainly wonât upend Netanyahuâs legacy. â Bobby Ghosh [AMCâs CEO has embraced his companyâs meme-stock status](, using it to raise more capital. Heâs playing with fire. â Chris Bryant Women lag men in financial independence, and [fintech isnât helping](. â Elisa Martinuzzi ICYMI Sinovacâs vaccine has [tamed Covid in a Brazilian town](. Virus [strains will have new names](. Just in time: new [bird-to-human flu transmission](. Kickers FINALLY: a [see-through swimming pool in the sky](. (h/t Scott Kominers) âWandering meatloafâ [has iron teeth](. (h/t Mike Smedley) âShrinkingâ light turns an [ordinary microscope into a super one](. America has a [drinking problem](. Notes: Please send wandering meatloaf and complaints to Mark Gongloff at mgongloff1@bloomberg.net. [Sign up here]( and follow us on [Twitter]( and [Facebook](.  Like Bloomberg Opinion Today? [Subscribe to Bloomberg All Access and get much, much more](. Youâll receive our unmatched global news coverage and two in-depth daily newsletters, The Bloomberg Open and The Bloomberg Close. Before itâs here, itâs on the Bloomberg Terminal. Find out more about how the Terminal delivers information and analysis that financial professionals canât find anywhere else. [Learn more](. Â
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