The Harris Port Shutdown Could Cost Americans $6.3 Billion Each Day
The Harris-Biden administration wants you to think they aren’t running the show. But the catastrophes keep piling up on their watch—with no leadership in sight
With 14 ports ranging from Houston to Boston shut down, the Longshoremen union’s strike could cost Americans upwards of $6.3 billion every day and back up traffic for weeks, slamming the brakes on Kamala Harris’ slumping economy. And the would-be president is nowhere to be found.
At 12:01 AM on Sept. 30, some 45,000 dock workers went on strike with demands to permanently cease automation of cranes and other port facilities, as well as a 77 percent wage hike. As Restoration News previously reported, a longshoreman with 6 years’ work experience can expect to earn $78,000 per year—double the median income in Virginia and Pennsylvania—and as much as $200,000 with extensive overtime pay.
While the contract negotiation is with the United States Maritime Alliance, the business association for shipping firms, President Biden has the authority to intervene in strikes that create a national emergency under the 1947 Taft-Hartley Act. Yet he hasn’t stopped the port strike—even as we lumber toward Election Day.
(RELATED: There’s No “Opportunity” in Kamala Harris’ Opportunity Economy)
Kamala Harris has yet to even comment on the economic disaster caused by the striking dock workers, as of writing, even though the International Longshore & Warehouse Union endorsed her campaign in July.
Put differently, Harris and Biden are on the striking dockworkers’ side—and American families across the nation are paying for it.
Restoration News calculates that over 42 million TEUs—the unit used for cargo containers—move through the 14 shut down ports each year, totaling $2.3 trillion annually. If the strike persists for a full week, it could cost Americans over $44 billion—and even more in the long run.
For every one day a port is closed, it takes 3–5 days to catch up—turning a potential week-long strike into a 6-week delay costing $265 billion while the U.S. economy struggles to recover.
And for Americans already struggling to pay the grocery bills under Bidenflation, this couldn’t come at a worse time.
(READ MORE: Pennsylvania Ranks #1 in Inflation)
