To repeat, the toilet paper shortage is about capitalist "efficiency," but hey, Joe Biden will fix it, right?

Whenever I think about Joe Biden as the standard bearer for the DemoDisneyDixiecrats, defecation springs to mind -- and with it, the need for toilet paper amid the rigors of the pandemic.

Here's another explanation of the same fundamental lesson: an economic system organized for maximum profit on the part of the producers isn't necessarily built to be resilient in times of crisis.

What Everyone’s Getting Wrong About the Toilet Paper Shortage, Will Oremus (Medium)

It isn’t really about hoarding. And there isn’t an easy fix.

Georgia-Pacific, a leading toilet paper manufacturer based in Atlanta, estimates that the average household will use 40% more toilet paper than usual if all of its members are staying home around the clock. That’s a huge leap in demand for a product whose supply chain is predicated on the assumption that demand is essentially constant. It’s one that won’t fully subside even when people stop hoarding or panic-buying.

And this repeat from last week:

COVID-19 and the “Just-in-Time” Supply Chain: Why Hospitals Ran Out of Ventilators and Grocery Stores Ran Out of Toilet Paper, by Louis Proyect (CounterPunch)

"Hospitals began to run out of masks for the same reason that supermarkets ran out of toilet paper — because their “just-in-time” supply chains, which call for holding as little inventory as possible to meet demand, are built to optimize efficiency, not resiliency."

"COVID-19 and the “just-in-time” supply chain" ... um, which "ism" is it?

Eureka!

Serendipity is the motive force in life, and I knew there was a reason why I've held onto this roll of East German toilet paper since 1989. Just in the nick of time, too.

Meanwhile, for everyone out there equating empty (sections of) store shelves, depleted masks and missing ventilators with socialism, communism or other "isms" of which accurate definitions are lamentably lacking, have a nice read.

Spoiler alert: It's about capitalism, not those pesky other-isms. 

COVID-19 and the “Just-in-Time” Supply Chain: Why Hospitals Ran Out of Ventilators and Grocery Stores Ran Out of Toilet Paper, by Louis Proyect (CounterPunch)

On March 25th, N.Y. Times op-ed columnist Farhad Manjoo wrote about “How the World’s Richest Country Ran Out of a 75-Cent Face Mask.” The subtitle certainly went against the grain of what you’d read from a page dominated by Thomas Friedman: “A very American story about capitalism consuming our national preparedness and resiliency.”

Manjoo identified just one of many failures of the Trump administration to be prepared for the epidemic. Alex Azar, the HHS Secretary had testified that there were only about 40 million masks in our domestic stockpiles, around 1 percent of what would be required. Like much else, mask manufacturing had migrated to China in the same way as all other textile industries had long ago.

Manjoo put this into context:

Hospitals began to run out of masks for the same reason that supermarkets ran out of toilet paper — because their “just-in-time” supply chains, which call for holding as little inventory as possible to meet demand, are built to optimize efficiency, not resiliency.

I remember first hearing about just-in-time inventory techniques in the 1990s in the aftermath of the collapse of the USSR. Just-in-time was also called “lean manufacturing” or “stockless production.” Management gurus saw it as a way to eliminate waste and continuously boost productivity ...

"The “Toilet Paper Test” is a litmus test for walkability. Does your home pass?"

As a handy proxy, yes. But there are many details yet to be negotiated ... if only it were possible.

The “Toilet Paper Test” is a litmus test for walkability. Does your home pass? by Dan Malouff (Greater Greater Washington)

The Toilet Paper Test is simple: If you're at home and you need to buy toilet paper, can you do so conveniently without using a vehicle?

If you can, odds are you live in an area that's walkable enough for many of your daily needs to be handled on foot. If you can't, you probably have to rely a lot on something with wheels to get around.

An imperfect test, but a handy proxy ...