Coming out of COVID and resuming near-normal, may affect commodity prices and cause shortages of raw materials. Barry Ritholtz writing in Bloomberg Opinion compares this to North America emerging from World War II, and experiencing massive economic and societal changes.

Missing Pieces in the Jigsaw Puzzle

The comparison to the post-pandemic era is apt. We are emerging from a battle with an enemy that seemed invincible at times. Therefore, it seems logical to expect shortages of materials, and higher commodity prices as furloughed workers return to their jobs, and demand picks up again.

Economists describe this ‘Great Reset’ as a period when we put the economy back together like a giant jigsaw puzzle. However, factories and offices find some pieces missing as they strive to restart. Some of these missing pieces are suppliers and service providers that failed to survive the lockdown.

Urban Living Becomes Less Important

Barry Ritholtz predicts big tech will be the big winner of the pandemic. The corporates will become more powerful, while a significant number of us prefer to continue working from home. We may only go the office where there is a need to collaborate. Our homes will become more important. We may spend the savings from not commuting on improving them.

But Inflation May Take Away the Gains

Experience during the post World War 11 period suggests we may expect commodity shortages, challenges in hiring, rising wages, and a spike in inflation. We hope this will be temporary, as more supply comes online to take up the slack.

We have kept going during the pandemic thanks to loyal support from valued customers. We have juggled our work schedules according to availability of materials. And we have kept our prices low as we could, so we had money flowing through to pay wages.

How the Great Reset Could Affect Our Business Sector

There’s a sizeable backlog in maintenance, and repairs of roofs and sidings in Calgary. Our customer base will want to catch up as soon as they can afford this. But the increased demand will put the squeeze on our supply chain. It’s inevitable this will reset prices, and they will go up.

This could the best time for a while to do that roofing or siding job you have been deferring, before the Great Reset restructures the  local economy. Please call Valiant Exteriors on Calgary (403)829-1661 to discuss the possibilities while we are still able to hold our rates.

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Image: Missing Pieces in a Puzzle: Charles Hamm BY CC 3.0 Unported