Yes, couldn't make either face masks or toilet paper during covid. Most people will find out how fragile everything is with idiot MBAs optimizing just-in-time for better quarterly reports!

We're going to find out how much agility exists in the system (under perturbation). In the meantime countries in Asia are scrambling for supply.

To look at it another way, we're a lot more globalised than in the 1970s. Resources halfway across the planet that you never even knew you depended on can shut you down when they suddenly go away.

> Ressources can be diverted at a much quicker rate with a lot more agility.

That's completely incorrect.

Covid demonstrated that. We have optimized so strongly for profit (outsource everything, just in time inventory, etc.) that we have no robustness in the face of disruption. There are now single chokepoints everywhere.

Yes, we could retool. But nobody will retool without a check from somebody. Everybody will simply hold their breath waiting for the crisis to pass. Everybody held their breath for Covid; they will absolutely do so with the knowledge that the orange clown will disappear in two years.

Globalization can run both ways. It can also create much more sensitivity to disruption as bets are placed in a system with a lot more moving parts.