The Mexican Mercado down the street from my house had no corn tortillas in the refrigerated case; plenty of flour tortillas; we Aztecs prefer corn. I asked the clerk at the register if corn tortillas would arrive tomorrow. She fished around underneath the counter and held up two packages of corn tortillas. One package held twelve taco-sized torts, and the other package had 30 “street” sized torts. I asked if I could have both. She started to say “no”, then shrugged and put them both in my bag. My joy was way too effusive for a male in his 60’s.
This rationing may be around for awhile. There were many empty shelves at Aldi’s yesterday. The clerk said the supply chain can’t keep up with demand right now. Empty ports lead to empty warehouses which lead to empty store shelves.
Rationing makes sense for essentials and I don’t mind when it’s done at the local level; we’re a community, none of us wants babies to go without infant formula. But if the federal government gets involved, that’s a game changer. Once the fed moves in, they never leave. It’s like your uncle comes over to help you move some furniture and you thank him with a nice dinner. But he doesn’t leave after dinner, he moves in.