Welcome To An Economy About To Run Low On Everything

As the global economy starts to open up after months of lockdown, many companies are expecting demand for their products to increase dramatically. The problem is, everyone is competing for the same raw materials to make their products. That's creating what BusinessWeek recently called FORO, the Fear of Running Out. It's a fitting way to describe a situation where companies are hoarding supplies and panicking that those supplies won't be available when they need them later.

"Shortages, transportation bottlenecks and price spikes are nearing critical levels, raising concern that a supercharged global economy will stoke inflation."

The net effect of this will be predictable from an economic point of view. Products will get more expensive, consumers will react by making faster decisions to buy and in the worst case, they will start panic-buying and hoarding. The bottom line is, our world may be on its way to the future normal, but it seems there's definitely going to be some pain along the way.