Freight Slump Right Now?

No. We are way past that.

1970's all over again. With one exception the cost of living.

As a child we used to buy chocolate Hershey bars for a nickel to a certain year I think. Not sure exactly. At some point the bars were smaller in size. Then were stopped in sales for a time. I think the store failed to order more because the cost increase was a bit much. When we finally were able to buy the bars again they're 15 cents.

Gasoline was .29 prior to that and now higher and so on. The time of the oil embargo, which I remember very well when we got the morning paper announcing the arab oil embargo that week, turned into odds and even days for people to get gas. If your license plate number was odd, you had odd days to buy gas legally. Otherwise the evens had their day to buy it. If you did not have either one on the wrong day you did not get gas period. Combined with a ration at some stations. 10 gallons max I think. Many cars carried up to 30 gallon tanks.

I can go on, but looking at the resturant business there was a period of time no one went out to eat or drink because they had no money to do it. Work did not change, wages did not keep up. A form of inflation that got no where.

The early 80's got things moving again when the Reagan era tax cuts kicked in. Ultimately it did not matter because the Gold Window was closed by Nixon in the early 70's and we were off the gold standard. Silver Certificate bills were also stopped. Eventually you cannot use silver certificate bills for legal tender at the bank anymore. Even though the bill is marked for all debts public and private.

Takes more money to buy something. Eventually it takes too much money to buy it and they stopped producing it. It being whatever you want it to be. Then the inudstry went overseas where it can produce this it cheaper and ship it back to the USA to sell at a profit. Eventually the people cannot make a living because most everything in the trades went away. Not everyone is meant to go to college.

If you want to understand how things got that bad, take a look at Venezuela. Its been a slaw moving train wreck economically. Where it's easier to hold a American dollar bill and buy something instead of a bale of venezuelan currency. At some point we will need a bale of american dollars here at home.

 

IRS tax refunds should be down. We received more money in our paychecks, at least I did.

 

No slowdown for us......guess it depends on the freight you haul

 

I hope that is sarcasm because farmers don't stop I know that on my farm we are planting more than we did last year and every one I know wants more ground to grow

 

What kind of crop? Most farmers I know including close family still have corn and soybeans sitting in bins because the prices are lower then what it takes to grow it. Doesn’t give much incentive to want to grow more.

 

Corn soybeans cotton milo potatoes and peanuts and they are probably still in the bins because normally the price goes up during the summer months

 

Normally I stay out of the Krap storm.

But this is copy- paste Krap. Correct?

 

I read in JOC freight is slowing some, but you wouldn't know it at my house. I've been on vacation for 2 weeks doing things around the house and getting projects done, I feel like a one man economy. I bought a new lawn mower on Monday, had some major work done to the house the past 2 days by a contractor. I'm doing my part to spend money and keep freight moving. Bought 10 bags of dirt at Home Depot on Tuesday. Bought 2 cubes of Peat Moss and some brown bags at Home Depot today.

Bought a new battery for my Multi Sprayer.
Bought an AC/DC converter charger.
Bought an almost $700.00 lawn mower.
Bought 10 bags of Vigoro Lawn Soil
Bought (3) bags of Vigoro Grass Seed
Bought (2) cubes of Peat Moss
Bought a new 2 gallon tank for my multi sprayer
Bought (1) gallon of Hydramaster Quake
Bought a new lock set for my door.
Bought a gallon of Viper Venom
Bought a new grout cleaning brush

I'm doing my part to keep the economy moving don't blame me.

 

Yep, there is.

 

Past two weeks i saw freight rates drop by $150 from my Neck of the woods too SoCal, so yes there is a slump but its tax season, bad winter, bad luck around the nation and tariffs.

Things will and should pick up once the market hits equilibrium.


Economy stumbled out of the gate in early 2019 but finished stronger, GDP to show