PROFESSIONALS STUDY LOGISTICS.

What was I telling you about the absence of magic buttons?  The coot must have been sleeping.

The supply chain is a finely honed machine that the pandemic has sabotaged. As efficient and brilliant as the market is in solving problems of supply and demand, so many aspects of the supply chain have failed that there’s no magic wand that government can wave to solve the problem.

Biden’s attempt to fix what’s wrong is likely just going to make things worse.

It's thinking of the logistics system as a "finely honed machine" that is the problem. Think of it as a complex adaptive system, and we all know what those are likely to do, and you might have a better handle on why any Man of System is going to go wrong.  In fact, efforts of the Men of System are only contributing to the chaos.  (There's now a compiled version.)

The Men of System thought technology-forcing rules would ameliorate Californian smog, for instance.

California has horrid geography for air pollution with valleys that trap air without mixing or blowing away.

1K worth of idling Semi-trucks outside LA & Long Beach Ports were killing air quality.

Limiting to new trucks kept the ports open, kicking the can down the road.

"New trucks" means tractors compliant with Tier IV environmental restrictions.  Apparently, those are of sufficiently high value for hauling dollies and containers in and out of the California ports that over-the-road haulers are changing tractors at truck stops near the California border.  Californian operators are reluctant to buy new Tier IV tractors in any event, as there's additional technology-forcing legislation requiring zero emission trucking within the state, meaning electric tractors, possibly autonomous, on guideways.  Some of the wishful thinking there makes "fifteen days to slow the spread" seem almost realistic.

Greater automation is key to speeding up cargo unloading and vehicle assignments, a major bottleneck in the ship-to-shore process. Once on land, smart systems like new cargo-handling and transport technology including hyperloops and automated port management would go a long way to making the process more green and efficient. Dedicated high-speed lines and elevated lanes should accompany major interstate highway improvements to close the last-mile gap.

The nearest container lift facility of any size on a railroad is in Arizona, and the railroads are notorious at discouraging retail intermodal, never mind the benefit they (and taxpayers) might harvest from shuttling unit container trains between Los Angeles or Long Beach and destinations closer to where the real retail drayage is necessary.  "Reality is what it is, not what you wish it to be."  There's related discussion at this Chicago Boyz post.