For much of the last century, Boeing has been a bedrock of the American economy.
“Boeing is an American icon. As much as IBM, General Motors, so is Boeing,” said Charles Elson.
Elson teaches on the topic of corporate governance for the University of Delaware. He says Boeing’s impact on the economy is enormous and so when the war in Ukraine affects Boeing, we all are affected.
Reports by Moody Analytics showed when Boeing halted production of 737 Max plane it could slow the growth of GDP by up to four-tenths of a percent. The GPD or Gross Domestic Product is the total value of goods produced and services provided in a country during one year.
This is why Elson says it's concerning when Boeing reported they had to shelve the sale of 90 planes last quarter due to the conflict in Ukraine.
“Any time you have a significant conflict somewhere in the world that affects your supply chain and affects your customers it’s going to impact Boeing,” he said.
He points us back to that GDP growth, that Boeing plays a role in, when it suffers, so can some of us. GDP is an indicator of how well the economy is working. If it's shrinking or not even growing as fast as it should, it means some or many of us might be getting hurt economically.
But planes aren’t the only things being impacted by the war.
“The biggest thing with the Russians is the possibility of less oil and if there’s less oil then there will be higher oil prices,” said Mac Clouse, an economics professor who has been watching the price of gas soar since, like the rest of us, since the war in Ukraine started, nearly a 55 cent jump according to AAA.
Russia and Ukraine are also the two top producers of wheat in the world.
“We will see that in food prices it’s just a little early to be seeing that because we’re not really in the growth stage and harvest stage,” said Clouse.
But he does caution that the war may be exacerbating problems we already had, not causing them.
“The Russia Ukraine conflict didn’t cause supply chain issues it didn’t cause lots of spending that was increasing demand in the economy and stimulus packages that were increasing demand or leading to inflation,” said Clouse.
While it may not be the cause of all these issues, the effects are certainly being felt across the globe and here at home.