Sign of the Times: Truckers Say High Diesel Costs Threaten Industry

From NPR: Truckers are getting squeezed by the rising price of diesel. At around $4 a gallon, it's getting costly to fill up an 18-wheeler. Truck drivers have ratcheted up their public outcry, holding rallies across the country.

My Take: What is interesting about this article is the fact that more trucks are getting repossessed as owner operators, the mom and pop truckers, are defaulting on their truck loans as the price of fuel squeezes profit margins. Since there is hardly a market for used trucks here in the United States, since many truckers are experiencing the same effects, these trucks are finding their way to developing countries, Mexico, Vietnam, China.

Most everything in retail stores is brought there by truck drivers and owner operators are the paper boys who deliever these goods. Price pressure will find its way into the cost of these goods and all things will be more expensive; Americans are waking up to the reality that inflation has not been conquered (the last significant inflation occured in the early 1980's) and this is likely to be a rude and ugly awakening.

Truckers are one of the many important components of the supply chain, one of the last decent paying blue collar jobs and an iconic pillar of America (remember these?)