For want of a nail

The phrase above refers to the fact that a major catastrophe can sometimes be traced back to a small error. The lack of a basic part or a small object can lead from one unwanted consequence to another larger one to yet another one, as in a stack of falling dominos.

That ancient poem came to mind recently for an unlikely reason - COVID. That, of course, requires a fuller explanation. 

Until sometime in the late 1970’s, the cars that I owned were relatively simple from an electronics standpoint. Years ago, I changed my own oil, did my own tune-ups, rotated my own tires, and watched and waxed my cars frequently. 

The owner’s manual for my 1972 Opel suggested changing the spark plugs every 6000 miles, and gave instructions on gapping the points, setting the dwell angle, and gapping the plugs. Today’s cars are a lot more sophisticated, since there are LOTS of electronic components in a modern car, and all of them require computer chips. Today, spark plugs are good for 100,000 miles, and tune-ups can only be performed by a dealer (who also will rotate your tires for you) 

 The first computer chip was invented in 1958, and life today would be impossible without them. Computers, phones, televisions, and electronic games would not work as well, and possibly not even at all. 

http://gria.org/history-invention-silicon-chip-computer/ 

 Since March, a large part of our population has been forced to stay at home, giving us a lot of times on our hands. To fill that time, we spend more time on our computers, (often connecting by Zoom), we’ve been watching more movies on our DVD players, and we’ve been buying lots of electronic games that we played on our Xboxes. All of those things require computer chips. 

So do cars. 

Recently, several car companies had to shut down production of some of their models because they were unable to buy enough computer chips. Since modern cars can contain approximately 100 computer chips, the lack of a handful of them can prevent car manufactures from assembling their cars.

 https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/13/business/auto-factories-semiconductor-chips.html?action=click&module=Well&pgtype=Homepage&section=Business 

Although Samsung is best known for its consumer products, like smart phones and televisions, the company also happens to be the world’s largest computer chip manufacturers. Its computer chip sales are in excess of $200 billion a year. Intel, a California-based company, is a distant second, with annual chip sales of around $70 billion a year. 

 https://blog.bizvibe.com/blog/top-semiconductor-companies 

All this brings us to the modern version of the old poem:

 For want of a chip, a car could not be built

 If a car could not be built, it could not be sold 

If a car could not be sold, a salesman could lose his job 

If he loses his job, his family becomes poor 

If his family becomes poor, he needs help from taxpayers to survive 

If too many people need help, the country goes broke 

And all for the want of a chip