The trucking industry has no leaders that fight for drivers pay and benefits. “Our” government is mired in confusion, lack of direction and favors the wealthy. Too much of our population is without health care coverage. Flimflam men and women, with no proof of prior success, no coherent plans, but having lots of money and looks are vying to be the next CEO of the United States.
It appears the country never gets enough of the political circus that comes to town every four years, covered by big business run media and an un-journalistic press that no longer has the courage to ask the right questions. We’ve living in an “Extra-Extra” world of BS concerned more with what Brad Pitt and Angelina are doing today than poverty, curing cancer or AIDS or dealing with reality.
Since 9/11, truckers were “made” to get a TWIC card. So, now a “home-grown” terrorist, can rent a Ryder truck, fill it with explosives, drive it to the Port – we’re not quite sure why he or she would do this – show the TWIC card and blow something up. I maintain that there are so many angry people in this country for a variety of reasons, that the only ones who feel safer about TWIC are the loons in Homeland Security who came up with such nonsense.
Since 9/11, someone, prior to boarding a commercial airliner, has to remove his shoes, throw away liquid substances, gets groped by a Federal rent-a-cop and then, if he’s doesn’t appear to look threatening, is allowed to proceed through security. The hijackers ten years ago used plastic box cutters to murder, injure and threaten passengers and crew on four jetliners. Could it happen again? Yes. What has perhaps prevented it? The terrorists knowing that the crew and passengers will fight back with their own version of “Let’s Roll”.
Saddam Hussein no longer runs Iraq. Bin Laden was killed and buried at sea. On the 10th anniversary of 9/11, on today’s (NYT) front page, “KABUL, Afghanistan – A cargo truck packed with explosives struck a NATO outpost south of the capital late Saturday, killing at least five people and wounding dozens more, including 77 coalition troops. The injury toll was believed to be one of the worst for foreign forces in a single incident in the decade-long war, and came in the same district of Wardak Province where two months ago insurgents shot down an American Chinook helicopter, killing all 30 Americans and 8 Afghans on board.”
Since 9/11, American executives, being compensated with huge salaries and bonuses, seem enamored with shifting US jobs and manufacturing to China. Bob Herbert in his eloquent piece “Losing Our Way”, says, “Welcome to America in the second decade of the 21st century. An army of long-term unemployed workers is spread across the land, the human fallout from the Great Recession and long years of misguided economic policies. Optimism is in short supply. The few jobs now being created too often pay a pittance, not nearly enough to pry open the door to a middle-class standard of living.”
Since 9/11, I was a flatbed – over the road – truck driver. Ten years ago, prior to 9/11, I was making $.40 per mile – ten years, post 9/11, my pay was still $.40 per mile. The price of decent health insurance coverage has more than doubled. The cost of fuel, food, clothes, water and electricity has skyrocketed. I lost 50% of my 401K and the value of my home is 1/2 that of what it was prior to 9/11. At least I have a home. Million of Americans have lost theirs, including their jobs and savings.
As goes trucking, so goes the economy and visa versa. The clock is ticking, as it has since 9/11, for the United States to get its act together. It has to be a top to bottom and bottom to top massive effort. Hard decisions have to be made by men and women with courage and commitment. The crack in our foundation needs to be patched. It is an entirely new frontier. A revolution based on the traditional values of our Founders needs to be employed. We need to take of ourselves right now.
Compromise is not the operative word. Either we destroy the Taliban or not. We cannot have it half-way. We either take care of our seniors or not. We cannot have it halfway. We’re either going to re-build our manufacturing base and manage China as a separate market or not. It will not work halfway. And, most importantly, we need to elect qualified people into Congress and the Executive Branch that are not side show carnival hawkers who talk a good game. We’ve been there and done and that. It didn’t work. Let’s not make that mistake again. We cannot have it half-way.
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