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On the front page of today’s Wall Street Journal, Annie Gasparro and Sharon Terlep report that some of America’s biggest companies are betting that habits developed since the pandemic started in March will continue into 2021:
Millions of Americans spent much of the year working from home. While legions of employers are planning to reopen their offices, many have said they would let employees continue working remotely some or all of the time once the pandemic subsides.
As a result, many food-and-consumer-products companies are investing in factories, equipment and brands to provide more of those items for years to come, seeking to accommodate consumers who are making more coffee, buying more casual clothes and tending beards with trimmers and balm rather than shaving them off.
…The pandemic has lasted so long that people have formed new habits and bought equipment to help them work from home for years, said Bob Nolan, Conagra’s head of consumer insights and data. “This gives us confidence that this isn’t just a flash in the pan,” he said.
Employers may make a lot of those decisions for some Americans; if a company’s office isn’t reopened, then no, those sales of office toilet paper and office coffee will never rebound to the previous levels. But I think that a lot of Americans are itching to get back to “normal” — particularly for the industries that have largely gone dormant during the pandemic. (This weekend, Jason Gay wrote a funny column about all of the annoyances of business travel that he’s started to miss.) Right now, there’s a lot of pent-up demand to eat out in a popular and crowded restaurant, go to the movies, travel, get on a plane, attend sports events and concerts and live performances, hold festivals and conferences, etc.
According to Bloomberg’s frequently-updated tracker, 1.94 million Americans have been vaccinated so far. The Oxford vaccine is expected to be approved in the United Kingdom tomorrow, and Johnson & Johnson will have results from its trial “in January,” meaning perhaps as early as next week. Novavax announced today it’s starting a large-scale Stage 3 trial. According to the company, the earlier-stage trials demonstrated “that the vaccine provoked a robust immune response, generated highly neutralizing antibodies against the virus and was generally well-tolerated.” By spring, Americans could have up to five options for vaccination.
If you’ve fallen in love with macaroni and cheese this year, that’s fine. But I suspect a lot of businesses will be itching to get back to work — and to start taking those “Three Martini Lunch” tax deductions for business expenses. Restaurants and bars, and all of their employees, eagerly wait the return of those customers.
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Read the Original Article Here
The worries should be all the Negative Habits people have picked up. The ones that require effort to get rid of.
Like excessive drinking, excessive eating, excessive sleeping. Not to mention issues with Depression.
And these were solely caused by our Government insisting on more and more lockdowns. If we don’t get rid of corrupt Governors, the second anything that smells like Covid-20 hits … they’ll do the same thing to force us back into submission.
This is applying the effects of the herd mentality the Democrat party is exercising at the request and interest of none other CHINA!
Refuse the mask refuse to be incarcerated in your homes and told you can not be with other family members while the Democrat dogs are caught doing exactly the opposite.
“Demand China pays a great price for this Virus Manufactured and distributed by China.”
I’m a veteran I fought alongside my patriotic brothers against “COMMUNISM” Now these parasites “Democrats” are trying to allow them to take our Nation. “Don’t let it Happen”
This is China (below) do not let them in Our Great Nation!
Apple’s long term supplier accused of using forced labor in China
Reed Albergotti
,
The Washington Post
Dec. 29, 2020
Updated: Dec. 29, 2020 7:31 a.m.
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One of the oldest and most well-known iPhone suppliers has been accused of using forced Muslim labor in its factories, according to documents uncovered by a human rights group, adding new scrutiny to Apple’s human rights record in China.
The documents, discovered by the Tech Transparency Project and shared exclusively with The Washington Post, detail how thousands of Uighur workers from the predominantly Muslim region of Xinjiang were sent to work for Lens Technology. Lens also supplies Amazon and Tesla, according to its annual report.
Lens Technology is one of at least five companies connected to Apple’s supply chain that have now been linked to alleged forced labor from the Xinjiang region, according to human rights groups. Lens Technology stands out from other Apple component suppliers because of its high-profile founder and long, well-documented history going back to the early days of the iPhone.
“Our research shows that Apple’s use of forced labor in its supply chain goes far beyond what the company has acknowledged,” said Katie Paul, director of the Tech Transparency Project.
Apple spokesman Josh Rosenstock said the company has confirmed that Lens Technology has not received any labor transfers of Uighur workers from Xinjiang. He said Apple earlier this year ensured that none of its other suppliers are using Uighur labor transferred from Xinjiang.
“Apple has zero tolerance for forced labor,” Rosenstock said. “Looking for the presence of forced labor is part of every supplier assessment we conduct, including surprise audits. These protections apply across the supply chain, regardless of a person’s job or location. Any violation of our policies has immediate consequences, including possible business termination. As always, our focus is on making sure everyone is treated with dignity and respect, and we will continue doing all we can to protect workers in our supply chain.”
Lens Technology didn’t respond to requests for comment.
In response to faxed questions from The Post, the Foreign Ministry in Beijing called forced labor in China “nonexistent” and accused people with “ulterior motives” of fabricating it. It said a number of companies had hired auditors to conduct investigations, which “confirmed the nonexistence of ‘forced labor.'” It did not name the companies.
Tesla didn’t respond to a request for comment. Amazon spokeswoman Samantha Kruse declined to comment. (Amazon chief executive Jeff Bezos owns The Washington Post.)
Apple products include thousands of components that are made by suppliers all around the world. While some suppliers are small or work for Apple through middlemen, Apple has a much closer relationship with its major suppliers such as Lens. The company has a supplier code of conduct and says it assessed 1,142 suppliers in 49 countries in 2019, ensuring that good labor conditions are upheld. It declined to say whether Lens was one of the audited suppliers. Apple publishes an annual progress report documenting its results.
Still, Apple has faced criticism for its labor practices in the past, particularly in China. It has also recently spread to India, where Apple has been building up its manufacturing base. Thousands of workers gathered outside Apple supplier Wistron earlier this month in Southern India to protest working conditions. Apple didn’t respond to requests for comment about the working conditions at Wistron.
“Apple claims to take extraordinary measures to monitor its supply chain for such problems, but the evidence we found was openly available on the Internet,” said Paul of the Tech Transparency Project.
Xinjiang, in the far reaches of Western China bordering Afghanistan, Pakistan and other Muslim-majority countries, is facing a brutal crackdown by China’s government, which has placed more than a million Muslims in concentration camps or forced them to work in factories making everything from cotton to soft drinks to electronics.