Things Could Be A Lot Worse Pt 2

Things in Spain went from bad to worse.

Truckers there are protesting high fuel prices by blocking the entry to gas stations, factories and clogging the highway with their vehicles.

Two truckers have died so far from commuters driving over picketing drivers (one of the dangers of protesting on the freeway).

The strike is being waged by self-employed drivers, who represent an estimated 20% of Spain's 380,000-vehicle trucking industry. They say big companies can cope better with fuel price hikes by lowering their hauling rates to land more jobs.

The independent drivers are demanding a minimum guaranteed rate for their services. The Socialist government refuses, saying that would interfere with free-market competition.

In other apparently strike-related violence, fire destroyed four trucks and damaged a fifth at an industrial park near the eastern city of Alicante before dawn Wednesday. Officials said they did not rule out the possibility that the fire was set deliberately. A driver who was sleeping in his vehicle when it caught fire suffered serious burns.

The Spanish government agreed Tuesday night with a large, non-striking trucking union on a package of tax relief and other measures to help the industry. The package was presented Wednesday to three unions representing the strikers, but they rejected it, said Julio Villaescusa, president of one those unions, called Fenadismer.

In Portugal — where gas pumps were near empty and supermarkets warned that some produce stocks were low — the truckers want the government to subsidize gas prices for transport companies.

Wow.

Most (not 51% most but 99% most) of the goods consumed in America are shipped via diesel truck at some stage in the production process. Unless you grew it yourself, you can thank a trucker.

This would be an interesting case study of what happens when supply chains freeze up and the velocity of goods movement is hampered. Commerce is still happening, just at a restricted pace, and when goods start to trickle to the marketplace you can expect the prices to rise to balance out the supply and demand.