How a recession begins

 New Republic - In Seattle, cargo shipments are down 60 percent. Los Angeles will be next. As recently as November, the Los Angeles Times reported that cargo traffic at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach reached record highs. But last week, it quoted the port’s executive director, Gene Seroka, predicting that “in two weeks’ time, arrivals will drop by 35 percent.” The reason, Seroka said, was that “essentially all shipments out of China for major retailers and manufacturers have ceased, and cargo coming out of Southeast Asia locations is much softer than normal.”

The recession will make its way east from Seattle and Los Angeles as trucks and freight trains carry less cargo overland. The port of New York–New Jersey, which is less reliant on China, is doing pretty well for now, which is good because transportation, warehousing, and storage account for more than 17 percent of all jobs in the Garden State. But Lisa Yakomin, head of the Association of Bi-State Motor Carriers, told the Bergen Record, “It’s a wait and see situation for the trucking community.”