The problem isn't RoE itself, it's the focus on short-term RoE. You can juice RoE in the short term by removing slack and shock absorbers, because increasing t

The problem isn't RoE itself, it's the focus on short-term RoE. You can juice RoE in the short term by removing slack and shock absorbers, because increasing the brittleness of the supply chain probably won't show up in this quarter's returns. The supply chain for fuel is brittle. There isn't sufficient inventory in tanks to buffer even short disruptions. A pipeline offline for a couple days is enough to make a crisis. People catch wind of the crisis and start filling their tanks at three-quarters full instead of one-quarter full, and the brittle supply chain breaks with the accelerated demand. Same thing we're seeing with the global supply chain which was already brittle, now individuals and companies are putting in bigger orders sooner to compensate, and it fails in the face of accelerated demand.