This morning, we’re following-up with our reader Alan’s contribution from yesterday’s Rundown – about how California’s AB5 exacerbated supply-chain snarls at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.

“We did not see these types of problems in other West Coast ports including Portland and Seattle, or Southern ports like Houston and New Orleans, or East Coast ports like Newark and Philadelphia,” Alan says. 

If you’re not familiar with traffic jams at California’s ports, here’s a chart that’s almost one-year old, showing the congestion… 

Source: Marine Exchange of Southern California, American Shipper

This was right around the time when a duplicitous new queueing system made it appear as if fewer ships were waiting for berths. But that was only because more ships were waiting beyond the horizon (the red portion on the chart).

In fact: “The combined number of container ships waiting offshore and at the berths [was] at or near an all-time high,” said Greg Miller at American Shipper. 

Sneaky, right? 

Alan continues: “I wrote letters to our local TV stations – and also left voicemail messages to the new editors – about covering this story but none ever responded because the liberal media did not want to blame part of the problem on California’s Democratic-leaning legislation.” 

Kudos to Alan for trying… 

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Your Rundown for Friday, December 2, 2022...

“Have We Already Forgotten?”

For more on the fiasco surrounding California’s AB5, an article at Reason notes: It’s “a terrible labor law that may require [independent truckers] to become employees of trucking companies – regardless of whether they want these jobs.” 

Though advocates of AB5 believe the law’s meant to safeguard independent contractors from “predatory” companies who skirt providing benefits and overtime pay, “it [has been] a massive disaster for people who genuinely wanted to work as private contractors and be their own bosses,” Reason says. 

Photo courtesy: California Trucking Association

The California Trucking Association, in response, filed a lawsuit claiming the state law violates federal law. And though the courts initially sided with the truckers, exempting them from AB5 for a period of time, a federal circuit court of appeals reversed the decision in late June. 

Now, about 70,000 owner-operator California truckers are suffering the consequences of AB5, even as Glenn Fehribach, CFO of World Group, told a session at the American Trucking Associations’ 2022 Management Conference & Exhibition in October… 

“We’re already 80,000 drivers short… have we already forgotten the port and rail congestion from the past year?” (Emphasis ours) 

Well, yes… 

And, broadly speaking, the rest of America has been paying the price for California’s AB5, too, as inflation, labor disputes and the West Coast supply-chain snarl have amped up prices on consumer goods across the country. 

But Team Newsom, so far, has been unyielding; the governor’s “GO-Biz” Director Dee Dee Myers says: “It's time to move forward, comply with the law and work together to create a fairer and more sustainable industry for all.” 

In other words, to mix metaphors, the train has left the station, and independent truckers either get on board… or risk dying on the tracks. 

Market Rundown for Friday, Dec. 2, 2022

S&P 500 futures are down 1.45% to 4,020. 

Oil is down 0.55% to $80.94 for a barrel of WTI. 

Gold is down 1% to $1,796.80 per ounce. 

And Bitcoin is down 0.30% to $16,885. 

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