Major trucker strike coming soon due to fuel costs.

[hemihead]

Other people that won't be hurt is the people that don't have much now . They won't have as far to fall . And they know how to make do with less . My Grandmother told me what the Great Depression was like and you don't want to see it . I say 99 % of Americans can't deal with that and will be lost .

[694spdRT]

I sometimes try to imagine what life was like before discovery of Drakes well in Titusville, PA on August 27th, 1859. 

That's easy...

Finding that pic made me realize something...the Amish are about the only ones who will be affected the very least if the USA is brought to it's knees. They will be pointing & laughing instead.    

Oh they will feel the heat when nobody has money to shop at the omish made furniture stores!

When their Honda generators aren't working because the gas ran out they won't like it much either. 

[RD]

I sometimes try to imagine what life was like before discovery of Drakes well in Titusville, PA on August 27th, 1859. 

here is a history lesson, oil has been around for thousands of years.  the greeks and persians used it for simplistic flamethrowers on their ships to defeat the enemies navies...

so... lets blame them instead of Americans LOL j/k... just trying to be humorous

[Todd Wilson]

Other people that won't be hurt is the people that don't have much now . They won't have as far to fall . And they know how to make do with less . My Grandmother told me what the Great Depression was like and you don't want to see it . I say 99 % of Americans can't deal with that and will be lost .

Yup! I have heard lots of storys from my Grand Parents about the depression. I also remember my great grandmother and the family farm. That farm is probably what kept them alive and fed thru the depression. I wonder what would happen with everyone now as a fat lazy society we have become. I bet there would be anarchy and chaos like crazy.


Todd

[Silver R/T]

doesn't seem like it helped any...gas went up again!!!

[Mike DC]

 
I don't think modern people are especially lazy in the big picture.  We do more mental work than physical compared to the past but we still work all day just to live.


I think we're unfamiliar with major sacrificing though.  Our idea of major sacrifice is not getting a pleasure as quickly, let alone permanently going without something that we consider a necessity. 

[hemihead]

 
I don't think modern people are especially lazy in the big picture.  We do more mental work than physical compared to the past but we still work all day just to live.


I think we're unfamiliar with major sacrificing though.  Our idea of major sacrifice is not getting a pleasure as quickly, let alone permanently going without something that we consider a necessity. 

We definately do more mental work as a society today . Maybe far too much mental work . As far as lazy I would say yes we are . Look at all the pot belly people when you are out next time . And it's really sad when most people go to a gym to get exercise when if they were a little active they wouldn't need to pay to stay healthy . Previous generations worked, ate right , and were active . Today , people  can't  get up off the chair to change the TV channel .
Most people today won't make it through a Depression . They can't live without a Cell Phone . They don't know how to grow a garden .
Most will go insane losing all their money and their portfolio's . And don't thik the government will bail you out because in a Depression , the government has no money . The only ones to get any help are the extremely wealthy .
It's coming . We are on a collision course as things stand now .
  I say let's go back on the gold standard so our currency is worth something more than NYSE paper . But if we tried that too many " investor types "  would stand to lose alot of money

[my73charger]

Check this website out:

http://zfacts.com/p/35.html

[defiance]

Check this website out:

http://zfacts.com/p/35.html

That's strange, I specifically remember paying $1/gal or less for years when I was first driving.  That would've been in the 90's.

[defiance]

 
I don't think modern people are especially lazy in the big picture.  We do more mental work than physical compared to the past but we still work all day just to live.


I think we're unfamiliar with major sacrificing though.  Our idea of major sacrifice is not getting a pleasure as quickly, let alone permanently going without something that we consider a necessity. 

We definately do more mental work as a society today . Maybe far too much mental work . As far as lazy I would say yes we are . Look at all the pot belly people when you are out next time . And it's really sad when most people go to a gym to get exercise when if they were a little active they wouldn't need to pay to stay healthy . Previous generations worked, ate right , and were active . Today , people  can't  get up off the chair to change the TV channel .
Most people today won't make it through a Depression . They can't live without a Cell Phone . They don't know how to grow a garden .
Most will go insane losing all their money and their portfolio's . And don't thik the government will bail you out because in a Depression , the government has no money . The only ones to get any help are the extremely wealthy .
It's coming . We are on a collision course as things stand now .
  I say let's go back on the gold standard so our currency is worth something more than NYSE paper . But if we tried that too many " investor types "  would stand to lose alot of money

And get off your lawn!
Sorry but you're being a bit judgemental.  There's no way you can accurately make such sweeping generalizations about an entire generation of people, and some of your facts are just dead wrong.  For example, previous generations excercising and eating right?  Take a look at heart disease rates among boomers.  And going to the gym to work out is a sign of laziness?  No, it's a sign that their job, being more mental than physical now, doesn't get them the activity they need, so they take extra time and effort to spend an hour devoted to keeping their body healthy.  That's lazy?  Your assertion makes no sense.

Every generation is rife with peope complaining about the next generation.  Them dang youngsters and their horseless carriages!  We had to walk when I's a kid, and we're better people 'cuz of it!  Them dang kids and their telemivizions!  My generation picked up the newspapers!!  Them dang kids and their cell phones!  blablabla.  Rinse and repeat.  I hope I'm not like that.

Meanwhile, man, this thread is all over the place.

[Troy]

Meanwhile, man, this thread is all over the place.

You seem surprised. It's the current generation's short attention span and inability to focus.

Troy

[defiance]

Look, it's a duck! 

[68charger383]

Another thing people don't realize, is that what just happened to my Dad on Friday, could happen to any one of us here any day. My Dad, just lost his job (layed off) as a baker because the place he worked for can't afford all the employees due to the rising cost of fuel. Fuel that is for heating and baking, AND the delivery vans. Of course the rising price of flour didn't help either. This is the first time EVER he has been layed off in 50 years of baking! But, my dad said that they are now forced to raise the doughnut prices to .85 cents for a single doughnut to partially help cover the cost of fuel. I mean, think of this, they were selling them for .55 cents each 1 year ago. My dad's old boss told him that if this doesn't get better soon, they will have to close up completely as they are loosing customers because they don't wanna pay the higher needed prices. My dad is 65, and now has no idea how he will keep paying for their needed bills.

Sorry about your Dad!

Here's the problem that is coming down the road. Fuel costs are causing a skyrocket in the costs of everything we buy and use in daily living. Its causing companies losing business due to their price increases to layoff employees or to close up shop and layoff everyone. The Gov't keeps trying to correct the mortgage problem, but they are letting inflation run wild and without any check. Prices are skyrocketing and unemploment is starting to bump upwards= inflation. We are in trouble with no one at the wheel.

The big thing no one is mentioning is that over the past two years, prices have shot up on everything, but our incomes have remained the same without any adjustments inline with the increase in costs. So we are actually making substantially less money now than two years ago based on our spending power. So we will have less money to buy the .85 cent donut because a higher % of our money is going to gas or other purchases which now cost more money. The issue with the truckers is similar to a lot of people right now...we don't make enough to cover the increase in costs being passed around due to the gas price increases. So now we won't buy that new car or take that vacation or buy flowers this year for the front yard...it will soon cause a ripple in the economy. I think we are heading for a big recession....

[Mike DC]

 
Now we're talking about the real problem.  The USD inflation is off the leash. 



What's really a joke to me is the way the issue is portrayed.  People & writers & media talk about the inflation issue like it's a force of nature or something.  They talk in resigned tones about it as if it's part of the weather.  As if the money supply isn't related to any person's conscious decision. 


 

[Brock Samson]

Aloha Air just went belly up due to fuel costs stranding folks holding their tickets in hawaii so i would have to say this isn't the last shoe to drop due to the higher fuel costs. there's a few places here selling reg. for $ 4.11 per Gal. 

ATA Airlines went belly up this AM, ticket holders were given a list of other airlines that fly to the same destinations and left holding worthless tickets... again, because of fuel prices...


another airline went kaput yesterday...
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2008/04/04/financial/f181256D82.DTL

  they said this administration was gonna bankrupt the country,... who knew?.. 

[Mike DC]

 
It seems to me there's no such thing as an airline that is not an inch away from bankruptcy.  Doesn't matter which way the economic winds are blowing.

[PocketThunder]

 
It seems to me there's no such thing as an airline that is not an inch away from bankruptcy.  Doesn't matter which way the economic winds are blowing.

Were major rail roads that way 100 years ago?  They were the "mass people movers" of their time but it seems like they had plenty of cash to build and invest in their infrastructure.

[Mike DC]

   

Yeah, it was a different time.  And the original railroads were basically built on the backs of a huge underclass of chinese & irish workers, using stolen native american lands.

------------------------------------------------------------------


We need modernized railroads in the US today so bad it's not even funny.  It's ludicrous to be using huge airliners to fly a clump of people between two major urban centers that are only only 250 miles apart.  What little time is saved by the plane gets eaten up by the security checks, the trains can be much more roomy & comfortable inside, and the fuel/cost savings of ground vs air is astronomical. 




But I still think public transportation inside the cities is a lost cause though.  Modern american cities aren't compacted enough.  You can't possibly run an efficient subway or trolley car line in a huge mess of suburban sprawl. 

(And many of the cities that are pushing so hard for massive govt projects to build public transportation lines . . . aren't even maintaining the quality of their existing local bus lines as it is.)

[Todd Wilson]

The beauty of the railroad is its a simple design from a long time ago and they have been able to adapt to change thru the changes of the times. Yes they were the prime people movers years ago. Suddenly the airplane started to become a popular way to travel and of course the interstate highway system and the change with the automobile is what took the people hauling away from the railroads. Truck technology also changed and they started to haul frieght. Trucks were faster. What they have seen in recent years is trucks and railroads can work together. If you arent in a hurry you can haul 3 times what a truck can for the same price or less then one truckload would cost. With the invention of the stack and piggy back cars the railroad can move hundreds of trailers in a few days clear across the country for less $ and fuel and time. Trucks cant compete with that. What the railroad cant do is take each individual trailer to where it needs to go or in a timely manner sometimes and thats where trucks and trains work together.  I forget what it is but the price per ton hauled 1 mile is dirt cheap on the railroad compared to other methods.


It used to be speed was the answer and now I think we may be shifting the other way to a more efficient way to get something from point A to B. My father in law flew out to Colorado for the holidays. He said after the security checks on both ends it was about the same amount of time as it would have taken to just drive. It cost more but was easier then sitting behind the wheel for all those hours driving.


I am no expert at airplanes but what I see in the industry is long haul flights are probably gonna be all thats left before too long. You cant touch a LA to New York trip or across the big pond in anything other then a plane.

All of this will be determined by the price of energy.  If everyones wages would have went up like gas has we wouldnt care. But it hasnt and now people are feeling the crunch and not doing things or finding ways to do them cheaper. Spend 6 hours driving somewhere is cheaper then flying the trip.


Todd

[TruckDriver]

Aloha Air just went belly up due to fuel costs stranding folks holding their tickets in hawaii so i would have to say this isn't the last shoe to drop due to the higher fuel costs. there's a few places here selling reg. for $ 4.11 per Gal. 

ATA Airlines went belly up this AM, ticket holders were given a list of other airlines that fly to the same destinations and left holding worthless tickets... again, because of fuel prices...


another airline went kaput yesterday...
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2008/04/04/financial/f181256D82.DTL

  they said this administration was gonna bankrupt the country,... who knew?.. 

Yup, Skybus Airlines is the 3rd one this week alone.

[squeakfinder]

As long as people can eat, they won't fight. There may have been a truckers strike back in the 70's but believe me theres been talk about doing it again more than once since then.

Evanthough I pay union dues every month to the operating engineers I'm not a union man, I pay it so I can have a job doing something I like.

Without collective bargaining, and some form of centralized leadership, a strike won't happen.

[Tilar]

squeakfinder, you nailed it on the head. Drivers can't even agree to disagree on which truckstop is the best. A good friend that lives local to me has shut down his trucks and he's put a sign in the front windows that read "On Strike untill fuel prices drop".

[derailed]

A good friend that lives local to me has shut down his trucks and he's put a sign in the front windows that read "On Strike untill fuel prices drop".

He might as well cross it out and put " For Sale".

[hemihead]

A good friend that lives local to me has shut down his trucks and he's put a sign in the front windows that read "On Strike untill fuel prices drop".

He might as well cross it out and put " For Sale".

Very true because , guess what ? The state that collects the fuel taxes doesn't care . The company that collects the profits doesn't care . And the other truckers don't care because if he doesn't work or goes out of business that means more $$$ for them . It's world of selfishness and everyone looks out for themselves today .

[Mike DC]

 
If we get into a long-term situation where the oil really just gets more expensive than it used to be, then what would you have the govt do about it?   

Is it really greed & corruption for them to just let the prices rise the way the market demands?  Are you sure it's not a way of easing the American public into the unavoidable future as painlessly as possible?



We all know that enviro-greenies are deluded when they accuse Detriot of being "in bed" with the oil industry.  Some of those people think Detroit could easily build 60-mpg cars (without any compromises in materials & safety & power whatsoever) any time they felt like it, but it's all a conspiracy not to do it and keep the public bending over for the oil.   

Well, I think people are being being just as deluded when they act like the oil price is a sham.  The oil industry has some control, but they can't just wave a magic wand and bring the oil back down to $30/barrel whenever they feel like it.