Life on the Road – Trucking News Blog

are just as dumb as you are,  just meaner and greedier.”

In my not so humble opinion truer words have NEVER been spoken.

I come across this gem while perusing “stay awake” material.  That is, reading material that will keep me awake.  In other words if you read it you will be UNABLE to get to sleep.  Helpful for those long distance deadheads at night don’t you know?

Well I found some at The War Nerd

This article has to do with defense of naval main battle groups.

Nonetheless, the statement is profound.

Did you ever wonder about your company? Your state? Your Country?

Look at the headlines daily.  Look at what’s going on in the financial community. Look at the latest pronouncements by the various alphabet soup of government agencies (D.O.T., N.A.S.A., F.E.M.A., F.B.I., them and many, many, more).

Can you believe they say some of the things they say?  Can you believe that they’re doing what they’re doing?

Now remember when you were, say, nine years old.

Remember the “food fights” in  the cafeteria?  Remember the bullies on the playground?

Do you notice any similarities to what’s going on now.  Local, State, National and International?

Is it similar to how your company is being run?  Your city?

Robert Heinlein, in his future history, called these the Crazy Years.

The war nerd says:

The People at the Top are just as dumb as you are, just meaner and greedier.

A while back the Bush administration, under pressure from “Environmentalist’s”

From The Nation we find that…..

In 2005 Congress passed, and George W. Bush signed, the $244 billion transportation bill. It included a variety of tax credits for alternative fuels such as ethanol and biomass. But it also included a fifty-cent-a-gallon credit for the use of fuel mixtures that combined “alternative fuel” with a “taxable fuel” such as diesel or gasoline.

Pretty simple right?  Pretty straight forward?

Well enter the Paper Industry.  Remember the title of this post, especially remember the “meaner and greedier” part.  Notice nothing is said about honor or ethics?

Good thing….they have none.

Now a little bit about the paper industry.  It makes paper by using something called the Kraft process.  A byproduct of this is something called black Liquor.  The black liquor is then used to provide a significant percentage of the fuel needed to run the paper making process.

Enter then zero honor and low ethics part.  Some “smart guy” put two and two together.  Black Liquor is a fuel right? If you add diesel to it then you get a fifty cents a gallon tax credit …..right?

Riiiiight.

No one said that the diesel had to be necessary to the process.  After all, ethanol is not necessary to add to gasoline, but the Feds, in all their infinitesimal wisdom, provide tax credits.  Same thing, right?

So.  Along comes 2008, the price of diesel skyrockets.  My cost of operation skyrockets.  Fuel becomes BY FAR my major expense.  Like seventy thousand dollars worth of major expense.  For one year for one truck.  There went any taint of profitability for the year.  I barely (am barely) staying in business.  Due to the high cost of fuel.

While this was going on the paper industry is literally wasting millions of gallons of fuel just to profit on a tax gimmick.  They’re driving up the cost of the fuel that I HAVE to have to make a living just to positively impact their bottom line.

Am I angry?  You bet.

The only problem is….who am I MOST angry at?

I have NO DOUBT , however, about the “meaner and greedier” part.

….nor honor…nor ethics.