Posted on 03/26/2008 7:37:44 AM PDT by captjanaway
The Fed is bailing out banks that irresponsibly loaned money to home buyers (that the home buyers could not afford to pay back). Meanwhile, many Americans are blithely waiting for their IRS “rebate” checks – a feel-good, election year tactic to “stimulate the economy.” Yet the United States is facing a different – and serious – economic crisis. If this crisis is left unchecked, it could leave grocery stores with empty shelves and the local mall with fewer gadgets and gizmos.
In 1987, I purchased my first truck for $50,000 and my first trailer for $9,000. Fuel was 67 cents per gallon and, as an owner/operator I earned approximately $1.25 per mile. The truck I purchased in 1999 cost $120,000, trailer was $20,000. When I parked my truck and went to Iraq in 2004, fuel cost $1.37 cents per gallon and my rate per mile was still $1.25 per mile.
(Excerpt) Read more at familysecuritymatters.org ...
Bump
mexican truckers make fraction of pay
thus leaving planty of cash for gas
yay
The free market will shortly work. It is hard for a trucker with a loan on it to stop work, but enough will be forced to that rates will go up to match fuel, labor and depreciation on their vehicles. Major companies won’t work at a loss..owner operators will either fail or will get higher rates.
Maybe the truckers can get the country to realize we need to develop our own resouces, like ANWR, Chuchki and Barents Sea, Gulf waters, Federal Land, etc. The ethanol whores, the marxist,socialist, enviorwackos need to be pushed out of the way.
Damn Sen Boxer is agitating to get the polar bears on the endangered species list ONLY to stop drilling inthe CHUChKI Sea. she has as muchas admitted that. The envirowacko left wants to put off limits anywhere our oil is, because the HATE America. That is the bootom line. Global Warming is just the latest scam they have invented to strangle our economy. It is not about saving the planet, it is about destroying the US.
That ‘jingle mail’ ain’t just for house keys. The truckers are doing it too.
This is a difficult business which you simply cannot ‘pass on your costs’ because there is always someone else that will do it for nothing. At least for a while.
I suppose that when enough independents park their trucks, those remaining will be able to demand price increases. Then the independents on the sidelines can step back in and the situation can rationalize.
Painful in the interim, I know, but markets can be messy in the short-term.
Maybe the truckers can get the country to realize we need to develop our own resouces, like ANWR, Chuchki and Barents Sea, Gulf waters, Federal Land, etc
Won’t happen in todays environmentally crazy world. Remember, the yellow-bellied, red-beaked, one winged farkle fly, which can only be found on 2 square inches in alaska will shut down the drilling in ANWR by environmentalists, so it’s habitat may be maintained in its current, pristine condition..
The problem / shame is that most national politicians don't drive. They seldom have to reach into their own pockets to fill up a vehicle to work and maintain their families. They're detached and clueless as to how America works.
I smell revolution in the air.
That & more.
Price of goods & services are going sky high, as we speak.
What happens when the store shelves are empty, and, or you can't afford those products needed for daily living?
I've got an idea ... why don't we become cannibals & eat our elected officials?
We have a managed economy, not a free market.
Jorge is waiting to bring on the Mexicans.
History will note Al Gore the “Pied Piper” who brought down Western Civilization.
First, you’ll see convoy’s............then watch out. I feel for the truckers. Walk in their shoes and you’ll see what they put up with. They are a tough lot but good people.
I started reading the article and copied a piece I wanted to highlight and comment on ... as I read further, there were more apropos bits I wanted to highlight and comment on ... and further still ... the entire peice is worthy of highlighting.
I was layed off Nov. 30 by a mom n' pop pulling hot, liquid asphalt. My boss had kept me going from Oct in a dump trailer after the paving season ended, but by November, he couldn't keep me (one of the last hires) and a few other guys.
I'm 60 years old, and my plan was to work until 65 and retire with full SS ... but now, ..... I don't know if I can get back in.
I'm not an O/O, so I can't go out and hustle for myself ... there are a lot more younger guys out there an employer is more willing to invest in than a guy approaching retirement.
I'm worried about the next two years,
If fuel doesn't come down, I'm afraid to think about what I will do. I don't want an early retirement at 62 and I don't want to be a greeter in Wal Mart .. although it may be reasonable money (compared to the long hours mentioned in the article, and I've experienced driving) and the 'work' isn't physically debilitating.
Still young enough to work, sore enough to not be a roofer, old enough to be passed over and scared enough to want to do anything (I'm able) to pay bills and live my August years comfortably.
Yet the trucking companies are still in a full-blown hiring bonanza. So there IS money to be made, somehow, in the industry.
Last I checked, most companies were charging a fuel surcharge to help with that cost.
One of my best friends has a sister who is part of a owner-operator team. They are having no problem making money. Of course, they are on the road all the time - but still, there is money to be made.
And there is no shortage of trucks on the road.
I forsee armed revolt in my children’s and grandchildren’s lifetime because this nation has become a corporate and special interest group voting bloc republic. The Dems respond to their ethnic/gender/green bloc and the GOP responds to their globalist corporation/chamber of commerce bloc, while the conservatives and working man in America is made orphans by both parties. All the GOP can come up with is letting illegals into the US, more borrowing and spending, and give corporate America free rein to the world with no concern to employment in the US; while the Dems want illegals into the US, more tax and spending, and joint the world international organizations what will impose socialism, gun control, property confiscation and wealth redistribution. Both parties will push thru these agendas even if the polls show that they are unpopular to most Americans. That is why Dems (globalist/corporate/chamber of commerce loving RINOs behind the scene) support gun control, because they know that is is possible that the common American worker will take it no more and revolt. My only message to them is that when America gets pissed off, they will not need a gun to kill them, a homemade large knife is more than sufficient. The rebels will get their firearms from the first bodyguard/government troopers they kill, and when enough is obtained, the first government armory or police station that is stormed. Unlike Iraq, the rebels will look like Americans.
I know union speak when I hear it. My dad is one of the most pro union people there is.
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