Families in the United States are having difficulty making ends meet due to multiple supply chain problems that continue to impact many areas of their lives, despite record-high gas prices and 41 year-high inflation.
Online news outlet the 19th highlighted one such case this week as an Indianapolis mother, Diamond Cotton, has struggled to find basic products she needs for her family. Her daughters have been left with no choice but to search for tampons in every store. “who have both started menstruating and would need tampons to go swimming this summer,”According to the outlet.
She’s 15 weeks pregnant at the moment and needs to consider where baby formula will go months from now. After all, her son is 4 years old and was born preterm. “couldn’t produce enough breastmilk to feed him then.”
“It is very hard — I am going to need formula, and when I come out of the hospital, I’m going to need more menstrual products,”Cotton explained to the outlet that she is also having difficulty finding child care help due to high demand for services and limited staff. Cotton expressed concern about her ability to find childcare. If she doesn’t, her job will be lost and she won’t have the money she needs to care for her children.
The outlet says:
She’s managing all of that as she’s watching gas prices shoot up and purchasing groceries for her family from a list that each week grows more limited. Women, particularly those who are sole heads of households, are affected more than men by food inflation. Last month, the cost of groceries rose nearly 12 percent since May 2021 — the largest increase since 1979.
It is quite simple to see the message for Cotton: “For women and children, there is not enough support,”She said.
Cotton is not the only mother facing these issues, as many of these concerns jumped to the forefront at the height of the baby formula crisis earlier this year, as mothers swapped stories of going from store to store in a desperate search to find nourishment for their infants.
“I have enough formula for two babies for 14 days,” Kayla Zurenko, a mom of four, told Fox News Digital in May. “Where am I going to find formula after that?”
Zurenko’s worries came as the Abbott Nutritional plant in Sturgis, Michigan, remained shut down due to concerns over a bacterial outbreak, though reportedly no links were found between the formula and sick infants. The plant was finally restored to normal in June but it was again closed this week because of flooding. It will therefore be “likely delay production and distribution”announcement of the new products by the plant
But now other product shortages are hitting the shelves, as Procter & Gamble confirmed this week that it is facing issues as well.
On June 14, 2022, a box of Tampax pearl tampons was seen sitting on a shelf in a Washington DC store. (STEFANI REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images).
“The Tampax team is producing tampons 24/7 to meet the increased demand for our products,”According to the statement by the company, it also added that “We are working with our retail partners to maximize availability, which has significantly increased over the last several months.”
All of this — Americans dealing with supply chain shortages, rising gas prices, and 41-year high inflation, with no relief in sight in President Biden’s America — comes as the midterm elections loom.
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