Britain: Brexit (stupidity on steroids) choices are making Britain's fuel and food shortages worse

Rising energy bills, higher prices and a critical shortage of workers leading to food and fuel supply constraints are threatening to stall Britain's recovery from the pandemic. The crises afflicting the UK economy have sparked talk in newspapers and among politicians of a looming "winter of discontent," a reference to the wave of strike action in 1978-79 that brought the British economy to its knees. There's even talk of stagflation, the nightmare combination of stagnant growth and high inflation. Although shortages, supply chain delays and rising food and energy costs are affecting several major economies, including the United States, China and Germany, Britain is suffering more than most because of Brexit.

Specifically, the form of Brexit pursued by the UK government — which introduced stringent immigration policies and took Britain out the EU market for goods and energy, making it much harder for British companies to hire European workers and much more costly for them to do business with the country's single biggest trading partner.

It didn't have to be this way — there were other options for a future EU-UK relationship. Worker shortages, for example, were not an inevitable outcome of Brexit, nor was going it alone on energy. But in Prime Minister Boris Johnson's ideological rush to "get Brexit done" amid fraught negotiations with the European Union, agreements in several crucial areas, including energy, were sidelined.

Read more at: Brexit choices are making Britain's fuel and food shortages worse - CNN

Puerto Rico: The Trump Administration Is Making the Puerto Rico Tragedy Exponentially Worse

Seven days. That’s how long it’s been since Hurricane Maria made landfall in Puerto Rico, yet many communities are still stranded and waiting to receive any aid from the outside world.

Fuel has become a valuable as gold in many areas of island, home to as many U.S. citizens as Alaska, Wyoming, the Dakotas, and Vermont combined. Residents have been waiting hours in line to get gasoline for their generators after Maria knocked out most of the island’s power grid and crippled the region’s transportation network.

As residents scramble to gain access to fuel trickling into their communities, some have questioned why the Trump administration has decided not to temporarily waive a rule that prohibits foreign vessels from domestic trade routes. The federal government implemented the waiver in the wake of hurricanes Irma and Harvey that ravaged Texas and Florida, which raises the question: Why the double standard?

David Lapan, spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security, told the Associated Press his agency won’t waive the rule because there are plenty of U.S. flagged vessels to handle the operations. Lapan says most of the humanitarian shipments will be carried by barges. Barges however, move significantly slower than cargo ships.

Rep. Nydia Velázquez, a New York Democrat, and seven other representatives had asked for the shipping waiver in order to speed up deliveries of fuel, food, water, medicine and other necessities to the storm-ravaged island.

Note EU-Digest: As a result of considerable pressure from political and public sources US President Trump today has authorized a waiver to loosen shipping rules regarding Puerto Rico that island officials say would be a significant help for recovery efforts from Hurricane Maria. Many local residents are saying, however, "too little, too late".

Read more: The Trump Administration Is Making the Puerto Rico Tragedy Exponentially Worse | Alternet