The drugs America runs out of are mostly the cheapest, oldest and most essential ones: saline, chemotherapy, anesthetics, and the nutrients that go into IV feeding for premature infants. At the end of 2025, seven in ten US drug shortages were sterile injectables, and the average shortage had lasted more than five years. In the same year, one weight-loss injection sold more than ten billion dollars' worth. Out of Stock is a ten-part ReThink History series on how a country that can make a GLP-1 blockbuster can't keep a bag of saline on the shelf. It begins with the first commercial IV solutions and the doctors who learned to feed newborns through a vein. It follows the payment rules and purchasing contracts that drove prices toward zero, the consolidation down to one or two factories, and the plant in India whose failure starved American cancer care. It covers the hurricanes that exposed how little slack was left, and what has been tried since, from early-warning laws to a nonprofit drug maker founded by hospitals to the tariff fight of 2025 and 2026. The series is told partly from the vantage of a retired anesthesiologist who for 42 years ran Monterey Medical Solutions, whose software calculated IV formulas for premature infants. It tests one idea honestly, including the strongest case against it: we buy essential medicines on price alone, and price alone cannot buy reliability. New here? Start with Episode 1, The Bag on the Pole, at the top of this playlist. ▶ Subscribe: youtube.com/@LetsRethinkHistory?sub_confirmation=1 👍 Like and Subscribe — it really helps the channel reach others. #DrugShortages #Healthcare #Pharmacy #PublicHealth #ReThinkHistory