Every so often the Earth reminds us that ultimately we are but inhabitants on this planet and that we should not take anything for granted, especially our ability to control our environment. The Earthquakes that have taken place in Japan since Friday, March 11, 2011 have cause tremendous devastation in terms of loss of life, damage to property/infrastructure and commerce.

It is a tremendous tragedy that so many people lost their lives or lost loved ones from either the earthquake or the tsunami that followed. Then on top of that there’s the loss of personal property and livelihoods that will linger for who knows how long. But some may feel sad for the plight of people that live thousands of miles away from them and have no connection with. So they may not see how their lives will be affected.

However, based on multiple news feeds that have been coming in, show that there will be a bigger effect on our wallets in the coming days. Many of the high-end components for a majority of the technological gadgets that many of us use on a regular basis are still produced in Japan. Things for items like cell phones, cars, Blu-ray products, etc. are still manufactured in Japan and all industry is affected by the natural disasters and the subsequent human disasters that have taken place in its wake.

So, there’s no question that the shortages of these products will have an impact on the products made around the world and soon there will be price increases on many items that we have taken for granted as readily available. Even though it’s a foregone conclusion that most of the world’s CE products come from China or Taiwan, many of the key components still come from technological giants like Japan. So this event that has paralyzed a country, will spread to touch many other nations across the globe. The world is flat, as the saying goes, and the positive and negative effects are felt across every nation sooner or later.