Supply chain problems aren’t to blame for our most damaging current shortage. (Photo by John Cameron on Unsplash)

If you’re a tennis player in my neck of the woods, and you’re hoping to get in another month of matches before chill settles upon the Great Northeast, I hope you bought a few extra cans of balls this summer — because there aren’t a lot of tennis balls to be found on store shelves just now.

It’s not because people suddenly took up tennis after that inspiring U.S. Open run by those two terrific teenaged women. It’s because tennis balls are among the many items retailers can’t keep in stock because of supply chain problems caused by the pandemic. Everything from popular toys to new cars are affected. The Economist’s current cover story labels it “the shortage economy,” and warns it may be another year before such global shortages disappear.

But it’s not just consumer products that are in short supply these days, and we’re not dealing only with production capacity. We’ve lost hum…