We see that “this” economy added 117,000 jobs last month. The media and some economists believe this is a positive sign. In trucking, approximately 4400 jobs were added. Although there is no “real” serious trucking media in this country, I imagine that what we consider the trucking press, would consider this as good. Don’t get me wrong, any job is essentially a good job. But, “they” don’t tell us any details about what kinds of jobs these are.
We know there is extremely high turnover in trucking - so any new jobs figure has to take into consideration that most of the 4400 – if they are driving jobs – will be vacated in the next 90 days. I think we can safely assume that around 5% of the 4400 trucking positions – those men and women becoming OTR drivers – will actually remain in those jobs after the 90 days – maybe less. As far as the other 112,600 jobs created, it would be great if they were high paying engineering, manufacturing or logistics jobs. I’m not an economist, but I ‘m sure their not.
Paul Krugman, in today’s The New York Times, writes, “Not only are vast numbers of Americans unemployed or underemployed, for the first time since the Great Depression many American workers are facing the prospect of very-long-term – maybe permanent – unemployment. Among other things, the rise in long-term unemployment will reduce future government revenues, so we’re not even acting sensibly in purely fiscal terms. But, more important, it’s a human catastrophe.”
The Christian Science Monitor reported, “The US economy added more jobs in July than Wall Street economists had expected, giving an early-morning boost to the stock market Friday following the Dow Jones Industrial Average’s 512 point tumble on Thursday. But the gain was short-lived. By noon Friday, the Dow appeared to resume its free fall of the day before, dropping more than 220 points – a downward swing of nearly 400 points after gaining 164 points at the opening of trading.”
But, the trucks keeps rolling and the freight gets delivered. There is still plenty of food in supermarkets and restaurants still seem to be busy. There is no less traffic at rush hour with people going to and from their jobs. Consumers are just not walking around malls, they make purchases and walk to their cars with filled shopping bags. GM reported record earnings. Why even billionaire George Soros, didn’t think twice about writing a $30 MILLION check out to a NYC campaign to “radically” improve the lives of the city’s most “at-risk” Black and Hispanic youth. Isn’t that special?
But, are you “slightly” uncomfortable?
Despite my critics, I am really more of an optimist than a pessimist. Stop laughing. By “uncomfortable”, I’m not referring to just money issues, but rather the whole “package” of how we’re feeling these days – stress and all. There’s a weird sense of uneasiness in the air. It’s not just the heat.
That’s probably what businesses are feeling as well as individuals. It’s not just the questions and uncertainty surrounding health care reform. Remember that debate? It’s not that you’re going round and round in a revolving door, more that we all seem to have one foot in and one foot out. It’s uncertainty on steroids.
Are we all kidding ourselves here? Is this like the trucking industry, where because some drivers are happy, the whole damn industry is supposed to be a bed of roses. Shush, how dare you say anything negative. If you’re saying, here he goes again, forget it, I’m not.
But, holy smokes, the apathy in this country is scary. I feel it has a lot to do with people being so beat up, they just want to be left alone to enjoy what they sill have. We’re living in an environment right now where we had an election, people got mad, albeit for a short time, elected a bunch of new rebels to Congress, and guess what, nothing is better, in fact, it’s worse.
We have an 80 something “dis” approval rating for Congress. Not surprising. The President’s is somewhere in the 40's, but he’s still better than the last Bush. Where I live, the Governor of FL, recently elected, is disliked so much, he has resorted to getting down and “jiggy” with the people. Yesterday, he was making and serving donuts early in the morning to those who either are retired or are working.
I’ve always wondered why there are not more “rebels” in trucking. I know many drivers feel it is not their place to complain. Many are former military, more used to and comfortable with taking and following orders than challenging them. Many are just lazy and very accepting of the status quo. They’d rather pay to go to a “social networking” boondoggle in Mississippi and whine in private amongst themselves, rather than effect real change. Some just don’t care and are biding their time until they can possibly retire someday. You have the leave me alone, just let me do my job crowd. And, my favorite, the – you’re crazy, how dare you say anything bad about trucking, eat poop and die contingent.
My point here is what I’ve always criticized trucking for, is now the problem with our country. People want things peachy and rosy, but in reality, if they’re not, and for sure, they’re not, it doesn’t matter, they’re still going to stick with the peachy, rosy fantasy. We are living in a “Facebook” world, where we “communicate” and supposedly “socialize” based on the whims, rules and policies of one man. Sound familiar? This “attitude” has probably gotten us deeper and deeper in grief and debt. But apathy doesn’t become America, just as it never will in trucking. The only way to avoid that “uncomfortable” feeling is take action, not just sit there and bite your nails – or sell donuts.
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