The Biden administration's scramble to tame inflation
CNN
When the Commerce Department launched an "early alert hotline" last Monday for resolving semiconductor supply shortages, the first alarm arrived by email from an American business within hours.
A disruption caused by the coronavirus pandemic had forced an important overseas supplier to slash production. By week's end, the issue reached the US Embassy in the affected country, opening discussions on worker safety aimed at allowing production to resume.
It was one small episode in an economic initiative that, while drawing relatively little public attention, has taken on increasing urgency for President Joe Biden's administration. Several Cabinet departments are working in concert to smooth kinks in the "supply chain" that continue to crimp the availability of goods for businesses and consumers while fueling a worrisome uptick in inflation.