Predictions for 2010 and 2011?

American O/O's will band together (for once) and blockade the borders to prevent the $.50/m NAFTA trucks from stealing our loads........Obama will then call out the Army who then realize that Obama's orders are unlawful and arrest Obama instead.....
Rates miraculously climb back up to $2/m at a minimum.....

 

aeyeaws , supergenius, will sell hydrogewn for 60 cents a gallon, and trucks will converet to diesel hydrogen switchable . it might be ammonia or urea used ijnstead of pure hydrogen. alto all the tard truck drivers will kill themselves with ##### ammonia

 

Some of these posts confirm my long held suspicion that 10% of my fellow citizens are far right extremists with twisted and distorted views and 10% are far left extremists with twisted and distorted views and the rest of us sit in the middle trying to live in peace, make a living, raise our kids, and not get shot by the other 20%.

 

I predict more of the same, only worse.
The stock market will dump below 8000 this fall, inflation will raise it's ugly head and we'll see it going over 25% before next spring. Oil will hit $140 per barrel by spring and congress will vote for another 1 trillion dollar bailout, but this time for the newspapers, more to the banks again and perhaps some to the airlines.
Congress will begin legislation to take over all our 401K's and IRAs for "our own good".
On the bad side....
democrats will pick up 5 senate seats and 8 house seats this fall. The tea party will split the conservative vote allowing this.
(go read the history of the 1934 mid terms)
Oh...and trucking? We'll see real wages drop another 10%.
We'll be looking at the Carter years as the 'good ol days'!

 

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica]FedEx sees economic recovery spreading
By SAMANTHA BOMKAMP
The Associated Press
12:36 p.m. Thursday, March 18, 2010

NEW YORK — FedEx says the global economic recovery is broadening, as Asia continues to see strong growth and the U.S. economy gains steam.

Fred Smith, CEO of the world's second-largest package delivery company, predicted a "relatively strong" first half as major economies emerge out of the recession followed by steady economic growth in the last six months of the year.

FedEx expects U.S. gross domestic product growth of about 3 percent this year, with growth led by the manufacturing sector, in line with the economists' expectations.

Still, Smith warned in a conference call Thursday that the housing market "could remain a problem."

The largely positive comments came after FedEx said that fiscal third-quarter profit more than doubled from a year earlier. It was the first year-over-year profit increase for the Memphis, Tenn., shipping company in five quarters.[/FONT]

 

My predictions for 2010
The west coast will have a unseasonably hot summer with temperatures going above 100 for 5 days in Seattle. It will be a very bad fire season.

The Gulf Coast states will have a horrific hurricane season with at least two Andrew sized hurricanes.

Diesel fuel will reach $4.00 a gal by the end of the summer, however 50 cents of that increase will be caused by increased fuel taxes.

The economy will grow at a 2.5% rate overall.

Demand for shipping will increase, but the number of trucking units (tractors and trailers) will decrease overall. This will lead to a spike in new and used truck prices.

CSA 2010 will have a strong effect on the number of drivers and units available. In the early stages the major carriers will release too many drivers based on inspection failures. Later the major carriers will try to get rid of older equipment in the false belief that it's the age of the units that is the problem. Finally they will start increasing the number of mechanics and be more proactive on maintainence, ie replacing parts before reaching minimun operational spec.

2011
New truck prices will be in the range of $150K (compared to the $110k of 2009). The truck manufactures will be able to charge a premium price because of demand, however supply of new units will only increase slowly as the manufacturers will not be able to restart some of the shut down facilities.

Fuel prices will be over $5.00 a gal by the end of summer, and the price will be seen as demand driven, rather than speculation.

Weather will be seen as normal by most people, while being slighter warmer than the average for the last ten years.