Shortages

There are many who would have you believe that the economy is doing well. After all, the DOW is up, right?

There are many signs that the economy is not doing as well as some would have you believe. For example, there is a shortage of medications that paramedics rely on for treating their patients.From the article:

What is the cause of this shortage? The federal agencies seem to be blaming each other, support organizations seem to be blaming the manufacturers, and most seem to blame the regulators. All this makes us—administrators of EMS systems—want to go swallow some Mentos and a Diet Coke. 

 This is nothing new. I remember as far back as 2010, we were having to use medications several months past their expiration dates, because failing to do so would have meant the patient got no medication at all.

The Hungarian economist Janos Kornai coined the term "shortage economy" to describe the Soviet bloc's centrally controlled economic policies.

A shortage of a certain item does not necessarily mean that the item is not being produced; rather, it means that the amount of the good demanded exceeds the amount supplied at a given price. Since the price for EMS drugs is zero from the standpoint of the consumer (thanks to EMTALA, health insurance, and Medicaid) this means that price for these drugs has become uncoupled from demand. Expect this to accelerate across the entire medical field as health care is paid for increasingly more often by Obamacare.