Do you have enough toilet paper?  Remember the first days of the pandemic lockdown, when the hunt for toilet paper and the hoarding of it became a topic of conversation? Thankfully, the supply and demand for paper products has come back into equilibrium, even though it did not happen overnight.

This imbalance was exacerbated by social media posts creating fear as well as our society’s ability to hoard products either for personal/family use or even, in some cases, personal gain from reselling.  Pure capitalism reared its ugly head when suppliers of needed products could fetch exorbitant prices for them.  With a little peer pressure, though, these bad actors were bullied out of existence.

Our current system of rapidly evolving prices that reflect market supply and demand remains a key cornerstone to our society.

It is interesting to observe how supply and demand has changed throughout the U.S. over the past few months. As a fun exercise, use the survey below to map out your life experiences against the recent changes.

The economy is currently in flux. As time goes on, tracking which life choices will become permanent and which will shift back after a cure is found will be paramount to pursuing investment opportunities in the future.

Why does this matter?  Because prices go up as demand increases, unless there can be a corresponding increase in supply to offset the demand. As habits change, consumer behavior will dictate which segments of the market will be most efficient and how the flow of goods will be best served, whether domestically or through foreign markets.

In the long term, we know that capitalism will adjust to find the equilibrium point. In the near team, we should expect to see increasing dislocation as the U.S. economy shifts right before our eyes.