HOT AIR BALLOON FLIGHT

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If you had bitcoin, Applebee's, and Afghanistan's central bank on your Nightcap BINGO card, you just won big. Let's get into it.

By David Goldman

🚢 A TOTAL SHIP SHOW

Wondering why everything costs more and takes forever to get to you? Covid has seriously screwed up the global supply chain -- a delicately balanced, intricate web of raw goods, manufacturers, ships, ports, trucks and laborers that is way out of whack at the moment.

Yes, it's August, and you probably haven't even figured out where to store all your white clothes for after Labor Day, but you might want to get a move on your holiday shopping. The year-and-a-half-long shipping bottleneck is only getting worse, my colleague Hanna Ziady notes. 

Like everything, blame it on the Delta variant. Covid has triggered a global worker shortage, and illnesses have led to closed ports – including the Ningbo-Zhoushan Port south of Shanghai, the world's third busiest container port, which has been shut since August 11 after a dock worker tested positive for Covid-19. So ships have to avoid that port, clogging up other ports, delaying shipments … you get the picture.

There are 36 container ships anchored off the adjacent ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach waiting to get in – the most since February. Normally the port has one or zero anchored ships waiting to get in.

And the shipping industry is still recovering from the Suez canal blockage in March (remember March? Neither do we), so that gives you an idea of how messed up the global supply chain is at the moment. It probably won't resolve itself until next March. So buckle up, order your holiday gifts early and often, and prepare to pay through the nose for them.

If you're not in the holiday spirit yet, we have a terrible solution: Starbucks starts selling the PSL tomorrow. 

QUOTE OF THE DAY

"Name almost anything and it seems like there's a shortage of it somewhere."

Bob Biesterfeld, the CEO of C.H. Robinson, one of the world's largest logistics firms. Read more.

💸 THE TALIBAN ECONOMY

It's no surprise the former central bank chief of Afghanistan isn't exactly a fan of the Taliban. But he paints a particularly bleak picture of what Afghans should expect for their economy under Taliban rule: Soaring food prices. Limited cash. And a surge of refugees.

In an exclusive interview with CNN Business' Matt Egan, Ajmal Ahmady, who led the Afghan central bank before escaping Kabul on Sunday, noted that Afghanistan faced numerous economic crises before the Taliban took over, including covid, war and drought. Now, on top of that, the Taliban faces global sanctions, a lack of much-needed US dollars and a crumbling afghani currency, which will lead to surging prices and a run on banks in the country.

🥛 FANCY LIKE APPLEBEE'S

In Walker Hayes' flirty "Fancy Like" song, he buys an Applebee's Oreo Cookie Shake to spoil his love interest (their traditional date night dessert: a Wendy's Frosty).

The song topped the charts, and it became a TikTok trend. It didn't take long for the marketing geniuses at Applebee's to realize an opportunity. So it brought back its limited-edition Oreo Cookie Shake.

Yes, now you, too, can upgrade your date night. Also, not to fact-check a pop-country song, but … the $3 Oreo Cookie Shake is only 50 cents more than a large Frosty. Just sayin'. 

  📱 NUMBER OF THE DAY

$50,000

Bitcoin surged to $50,000 Monday, climbing out of a months-long slump. It hasn't been that high since mid-May. Ethereum and dogecoin also rose sharply.  We're sure Elon Musk has something intelligent to say about all this. 

WHAT ELSE IS GOING ON?

🍎 An Apple II manual signed by Steve Jobs just sold for nearly $800,000.

🚕 After a federal judge ruled California's Prop 22 is illegal, some California gig worker advocacy groups expressed cautious optimism.

🔩 GM is recalling another 70,000 Chevrolet Bolt electric cars.

🐦 TWEET OF THE DAY

[Afraid to say anything.]