
<p>I’m all for blaming the Biden Administration for all of its faults, lord knows they have many. ; But I know my own biases and try to overcome them when I am analyzing events and situations. I don’t always succeed.</p>



<p>I am a bit suspicious of the most recent crisis, the baby formula shortage.</p>



<p>We are finding that many grocery stores have run out of baby formula, and shortages have occurred over the last few weeks. No matter the providence of the issue, the empty shelves are real and alarming.</p>



<p>We are seeing the responses as politicians run around like chickens with their heads cut off (yes, chickens really do this…). ; According to CNN, the House Energy and Commerce Committee announced a hearing on baby formula for May 25 and told CNN they plan to call representatives from the Food and Drug Administration and Abbott, a major baby formula producer, to testify.</p>



<p>Others are calling for use of the Defense Production Act to solve the problem.</p>



<p>Republicans are lamenting that illegal immigrants have a huge store of baby formula while American mothers are short.</p>



<p>But how did this happen? Was there a shortage in the supply of baby formula that bloomed into a crisis? Or did someone claim there was a shortage, panicking some mothers into buying and stockpiling baby formula, causing the grocery store shelves to empty out? Hmmm. The classic self-fulflling prophecy?</p>



<p>And now, of course, the crisis is real, because the supply chain was not ready for the surge.</p>



<p>I seem to recall a pretty substantial shortage of toilet paper during the covid pandemic – right after the news media told us to expect a shortage.  ;It was not that there was not enough toilet paper, it was that EVERYBODY thought we would run out and of course, we bought six times as much as we needed.</p>



<p>And of course, like toilet paper, we will have a glut of baby formula product once the shelves are resupplied and the hoarders are full up. But no one will complain about that.</p>



<p>I believe we will become more and more subject to this phenomenon, panicking and hoarding with the slightest whisper of a shortage. I have to admit if it is a shortage of Dr. Pepper, I will buy a six-month supply. Some things are important. Human nature is that once you react to a shortage by hoarding, it becomes your go-to strategy. </p>



<p>This will likely become an election issue, as it should be. After all, even if the baby formula shortage is merely a self-fulfilling prophecy, the empty shelves are real and the perception is real. Not Biden’s fault but it is Biden’s problem. The response by the Biden Administration has been as clueless as his response to Afghanistan, Ukraine, the border crises and rampant crime.</p>



<p>The big question remains. Who started this?</p>

Baby Formula Shortage – Is This a Manufactured Crisis?
