• 121 This surprised me. It's the number of restaurants in the Ft. Meyers, FL area(!). This includes the barrier islands hit hard by Hurricane Ian. But still, Ft. Meyers isn't my first choice for a vacation to Florida; there are more famous resort areas (for me, that'd be the 'Redneck Riviera,' baby!) But think how many eating establishments there are in the state (I don't consider McDonald's a 'restaurant,' but I'm assuming the chain is included in this number, as well as the other fast-food joints.) Also, think how many people work in those eateries: one owner of a restaurant in the article I read, mentioned his worry for the welfare of his 92 employees. I forget how labor intensive the large tourist spots are.
• 144 & 2,253 This is the number of 'vessels' (ships & barges) backed-up on the Mississippi between Vicksburg & Memphis, today, October 8th. Also, towboats are only allowed to push 25 barges, rather than the 40 on a normal run. The combination of fewer barges per trip, and less cargo per barge, has cut the capacity of barges moving on the river by about 50% even before the recent river closures. And that has sent the rates that shippers are paying soaring.
River barges are still a major method of moving cargo within the United States, especially for agricultural products.
About 5% of all freight in the United States moves on river barges when measured by the weight of the cargo and the distance traveled, according to data from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics. The shippers who use river barges have few, if any, affordable alternatives.
Most of the barge traffic moving south this time of year is carrying agricultural products. Many of those moving north are loaded with fertilizer that farmers will need for their next planting.
This is just one more stumbling block for US supply chains that are still struggling to recover from disruptions since the start of the pandemic two and a half years ago. West Coast ports, where most of the nation's imports arrive by container ship, are still congested, too.
And while a freight railroad strike was narrowly averted last month, even the freight railroads themselves admit they are providing substandard levels of service as they struggle with their own labor shortages
• $500 Million This number shocked me! This is the amount of money that colleges & universities in the U.S. are paying their 'ex-coaches' to NOT coach their school teams any longer. To do nothing. And this is only since 2010(!). "We can't pay student-athletes; we'd go bankrupt!?!" I'd say 'bankrupt' is the right word for major college sports. Sad.
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