On the Sidewalks of New York is a weekly feature at Human Events wherein Jacqueline Toboroff, a native New Yorker, will share her observations and candid commentary on the goings-on in our nation’s largest city. Wherever you live, and whatever you feel, there is no escaping the fact that New York City matters.
Getting coffee is an American tradition. Getting coffee and sitting in a coffee shop is a New York City social activity. It’s where the moms go after drop off and before pickup. It’s where construction workers meet in between shifts. It’s where the NYPD go to stay awake. It’s a meeting spot, a melting pot, and a beehive of activity.
Pre covid, my Manhattan neighborhood had endless coffee shops. They were open all the time, every day of the week, served any coffee variation one could dream up, and offered a dizzying selection of milks.
Local government shut down New York City. As a result, small neighborhood coffee shops closed. Employees were fired or furloughed. The only options remaining to get a coffee during the protracted local response to COVID were the chain name brands; Starbucks and Dunkin Donuts. Even the local coffee carts selling straightforward coffee with straightforward milk disappeared.
Nipping at the heels of small businesses trying to reopen or start anew during the endemic phase, policies and agendas have been enacted to tank the US economy under the guise of the Green New Deal, which isn’t green, isn’t new, and is anything but a deal.
Our Secretary of Transportation mastermind, Buttigieg, went on a longggg maternity leave, Biden went on a mental leave, and America was left without almond and oat milk and Manhattan moms were adrift.
Simultaneously, Biden has made us energy dependent. He said “It is a painful transition until we get to no fossil fuels.” In other words, our pain is deliberate.
Fuel prices are raised because the administration decided to go from being energy independent to being energy dependent and then turning its attention to a proxy war with Russia thus taking Russian oil off the market requiring our president to ask dictators in Venezuela and Saudi Arabia for help. The price of oil has multiplied by a factor of 3. The point is to make it painful, so painful, people must switch to electricity. This idea isn’t even innovative, it’s a regurgitation of a failure we’ve already seen called “Solyndra”, founded in 2005, funded by taxpayer’s money by Obama/Biden in 2009, and went bankrupt in 2011. Biden has a mania for repeating the “Solyndras” of his glory years with Obama. Then, there are rolling blackouts in California. No matter to this administration, let’s keep pressing forward.
Truckers rely on diesel fuel which has gone up in price, the excess cost of which they pass on to the products they haul which is then passed on by the merchandiser to the consumer. Not hard to understand. Even if one is on maternity leave. Everything that moves goods runs on diesel. America closed refineries, stopped drilling, and our stockpiles of diesel fuel currently are at a 20-year low. But diesel fuel isn’t the only problem affecting soaring prices and product shortages. In addition to supply chain issues, we have driver shortages. This might be because the administration has incentivized people to not work, mocked and hampered people that do, and enforced tyrannical mandates on people like truckers sitting alone in their big rigs. The fracture of the supply chain has raised prices on everything under the sun.
Woke companies, like Starbucks are in a Lefty quagmire; going green or staying in business.
Within the span of four weeks, the same drink I always get since COVID has gone up three times; from $6.47 to $6.83 to $7.39. Getting a large coffee with oat milk has become cost prohibitive.
But that’s when one can get it.
Two real time issues are occurring; irregular hours of operation and lack of inventory. If they can happen to a chain like Starbucks that can buy in bulk to accommodate a cookie cutter framework, just imagine how smaller businesses are faring.
Starbucks no longer keeps regular hours here in Manhattan. I was told by a “barista” wearing a t-shirt with dual Starbucks and blm logos, that when they run out of supplies, they close. Also, they have staffing shortages resulting in limited hours of operation.
Strange, because a big art-piece is plastered on the wall stating all the company’s employee’s benefits; “ Along with health coverage, your benefit options at Starbucks include life insurance, disability coverage, vacation, tuition reimbursement, employee assistance, commuter benefits, adoption assistance and more..”
Supply shortages are so profound, a sign now sits on the Starbucks counter; “We’re sorry for the inconvenience, due to supply shortages, some items are temporarily unavailable.”
Ironically, with the pressures of the presidency bearing down on Biden and as it seems the world is not yet ready for Kamala, there’s been talk in Washington of Buttigieg running for the Presidency. Bye bye oat milk.
