The chief executive of a major toy company blasted President Joe Biden on Fox News over the ongoing global supply chain issues that are hampering ports across the country just weeks before the start of the holiday season.
Isaac Larian, CEO of MGA Entertainment, which makes the Bratz series — among other toys — told ''America's Newsroom'' on Thursday that Biden's announcement on Wednesday that ports will be open 24 hours a day, seven days a week is not enough without labor.
"Whether the ports are open 24 hours a day or 48 hours a day, you cannot get labor," Larian said. "If you cannot get labor, you cannot get trucks, you cannot get the merchandise out."
He added, "I think this directive is too little, too late. And frankly, it's a political gimmick to me."
White House press secretary Jen Psaki said in a press conference that the Biden administration ''cannot guarantee'' that presents will arrive in time for the holidays.
"We are not the Postal Service, UPS or FedEx. We cannot guarantee," Psaki said. "What we can do is use every lever at the federal government's disposal to reduce delays, to ensure we are addressing bottlenecks in the system, including ports and the need for them to be open longer hours so that goods can arrive.
''And we continue to press — not only workers and unions — but also companies to take as many steps as they can to reduce these delays."
Larian asserted that the White House's policies on unemployment benefits are to blame.
"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 also said that detained migrants could be used as a labor source.
"Let them come to work, let them free instead of feeding them and giving them money to live where they are living," he said.
"I've been doing this for 42 years. I have never, ever seen something like this before. And frankly, the administration knew about this and — what they are doing is too little, too late to save this holiday."