Toymaker Slams Biden: “Too Little Too Late” To Save Christmas

A top toy executive joined Fox News’ “America’s Newsroom” Thursday and warned President Biden’s port directive this week to operate 24/7 to alleviate snarled supply chains is “too little, too late” to save Christmas.  

MGA Entertainment CEO Isaac Larian said, “whether the ports are open 24 hours a day or 48 hours a day, you cannot get labor. If you cannot get labor, you cannot get trucks, you cannot get the merchandise out.”

“I think this directive is too little, too late. And frankly, it’s a political gimmick to me,” Larian said. 

At the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, a point of entry for 40% of all US containerized goods, more than 80 container ships are at anchor and 64 at berths across the twin ports. The backlog doesn’t stop there as it takes well more than a week for entry into the port. Once the containers are unloaded, it takes another week to leave the port to warehouses. 

Larian blames port congestion on labor shortages due to Biden’s unemployment policies that incentivized people to stay home and collect stimulus checks than work.  

“If you’re paying people to stay home and they make more money just staying home than working, they don’t want to come to work,” he said.

Larian’s company sells children’s toys. One of his toys, called “LOL Surprise Movie Magic,” will only be able to get 60% of product demand out to retailers and e-commerce warehouses due to supply shortages. 

“A lot of kids are not going to be able to get their LOL Movie Magic surprise under the Christmas tree or Hanukkah tree this year,” he said.

With 71 days until Christmas, supply chain woes worsen, especially in southern China, where multiple typhoons have closed ports and created even more significant backlogs.

Global port congestion has brought uncertainty that other consumer goods won’t arrive in time for the upcoming holiday season.  

Here’s part of Larian’s interview: 

Biden’s port directive should’ve been implemented months ago, ahead of the fall restocking period.