Of course the media is behaving poorly by saying, "There may be a shortage of the following.", so everyone goes out, buys up the stock, creating a shortage.
Right now I find the shortage of 'red skin' Spanish peanuts rather annoying.
I may have to search amazon
So something else you blame on the media? The shortages and potential shortages are real. Should they not report them? Should they lie and say all is well, you're imagining any shortages?
To those of us in business, shortages were long ago predicted and media reporting on business also predicted. Now, the consumer doesn't follow the shutdowns of Chinese ports or the problems getting containers closely. Neither does most media. It's when it gets closer to impacting the shelves that it gets reported. The Port of Yantian was shut down by Covid in June. Now the Air Port of Hong Kong is at 75% capacity due to a positive test.
The chip shortages that have hit all auto producers and HP and Dell are expected to continue into 2022.
24/7 operation of the California ports isn't going to resolve this. It's simply one piece of the puzzle. Many others. They range from manufacturing problems thousands of miles away to delivery problems with truckers and UPS and Fedex and even the USPS. Just one piece. The average over the road truck driver earns $47,120 per year. That's for the privilege of driving 450 miles per day, sleeping in a truck, eating at truck stops and waffle houses and being away from family all week, many having no benefits, and then being laid off. While laid off, they found there were other better jobs and they aren't going back. New ones being trained and hired at even lower prices won't stay. The two jobs that people will not fill unless or until there is a major shift in pay and conditions are truck driving and wait staff.