And you had a tsunami in Japan, and that broke supply chains and created difficulties for the economy all across the globe.

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But the government could tackle home-grown difficulties that strangle supply in all sorts of industries, including agriculture, retailing, infrastructure and logistics.

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Indeed, some economists worry that efforts to resolve Germany's supply-side problems may be worsening the economy's demand-side difficulties.

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It's still unclear whether Boeing's supply-chain decisions over the years played a role in the firm's Dreamliner difficulties.

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