Commentary 
In a matter of months, the future hasn’t just dimmed, it has gone black. Think back to the end of last year, or even the first few months of this year. The U.S. economy’s “technical recession” was a complete surprise. Even though gasoline and food prices had been pushed higher along with those for far too many goods, everyone from policymakers to politicians to corporate managers was still highly optimistic.
You were far more likely to hear about the overheating economy in need of slowing than the dangers of a slowdown quickly turning into a nightmare.
We know how positive businesses were being because of how they had behaved. Forget what was being said; look at what these leaders did with their companies. Even though (to some degree because) containers and container ships remained piled up, logjammed coming from China trying to land and unload on the U.S. West Coast, retailers, wholesalers, everybody kept ordering to the max….