How long before it gets better!!!

thats the same thing i was wondering i still might go ahead and go to training in about a month or two

 

The trucking business is just s reflection of the overall condition of the country. Right now is a good time to buy a house, examine your investments. Time frame I believe that we wont even hit bottom for another 6 months to a year. The banks are still in trouble, the credit card defaults have not even hit. I wonder where the fed will draw the line at bailing out the idiots. Its a bad bet when the big money people like Bill Gates, Warren Buffet etc.. are running the other way investment wise. Our country got into trouble because of greed, and I do not think that those of that lived within our means and worked hard following the rules shpuld have to pickuo the tab on the greedy industries that may need to go away.

 

but those of us who DID live with our means Are gonna have to bail out the irresponsible folks. I remember when alot of these folks were buying these homes with 4000 a month payments and im thinkin to myself whole monkey #### how can they afford that?? and they would look at me like i was some crazy looooser! im paying 1500 a month working my ##### off and i can barely afford that!! well my freinds the chickens have come backhome to roost! and its a BIG ##### sandwich and we all have to take a big bite.
oh and BTW we will begin to see economic recovery by(at least in Ca.)the begining of Q2 maybe Q3 at the latest

 

1500 a month for a house payment....! I wouldn't want to make a truck payment that high let alone a house payment. I'll never understand you people in CA. My brother-in-law was living out there and was paying that a month in rent on some small place.

 

$1500 a month is nothing. especially in CA. My house in WI was almost that. My place in Tx is $600 with all the taxes and insurance

 

Well, Obama said the other day it will take years to recover. My gut is telling me 4 to 6 years, maybe 10.

Businesses are already expecting huge tax increases from Obama. So they are acting accordingly and laying off as many employees as possible and scaling back production as well as future expansions and product developments.

Michigan is a good example of what is going to hit the rest of the country. Our Governor was on Obama's economic team, and she has done a bang up job at running many businesses and non auto manufacturers out of the state due to her goofy tax schemes and unrelentless spending with no cuts. In the past twelve months we have lost 113,000 jobs, and not all of those were auto related.

Here is one example, a software company in Plymouth MI recieved a 14,000% increase in taxes this year alone. Here is the link to the story in Crain's Detroit, http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article/20080610/EMAIL01/576692664/1089

And then we have the economic stimulus package that team Obama wants to foist upon us. That will cost someone a trillion or so dollars. And the list goes on. This guy will make the Carter years look like a cake walk.

Expect another 4 - 6 years of misery.

Mike

 

Yeah first time I watched that show about flipping houses I about fell out of my chair when they said what they paid for some ragged out house! then after they got done the asking price about gave me a heartattack....

 

Here's my 2 cents worth and worth every penny. I'm no economist but I am a student of lots of economic information which is readily available. When I separate myself from the news reports and the emotions of the day this is how I see things shaping up. We all see that our government is not going to allow the economy to completely tank. People will continue to consume staples and to a lesser extent luxuries. Infrastructure construction will increase as we rebuild our highways and bridges with govt money. We will increase spending on energy production. Big trucking companies are not stupid. Trucks and labor are only tools to them to earn profits and they will increase and decrease them as supply and demand changes. we are seeing it every day. As all companies cut costs the trucking industry will also and many costs will be cut by moving from company trucks to owner operators. Now, we all know that the revenues offered by the big guys aren't the best, but they may look very good when the freight dries up further and competition with the Schneiders, JBs and Werners for freight becomes increasingly difficult. These outfits have long since set the rates they pay for O/Os slightly above what they know the O/O can survive on and stay in business with a small profit. As long as that number stays below the cost of operating their own equipment we will be in demand. The O/O's and small companies who are hauling for nothing will continue to fail, and eventually capacity (supply) will come into balance with freight (demand). Rates will rise and opportunities will then increase. Unfortunately the big guys will put more company trucks back on the road at this time and thus cap the rates by keeping supply of trucks higher than the freight available. Rates in general have been range bound for years and it is doubtful that they will fall much below the normal ranges. We are near or at the bottom of normal rate ranges right now. Certain segments of the economy that require trucks and specialty equipment will be more profitable, like energy. Bottom line, IMO, just as it has been for years most of us won't be allowed to make more than a living for a long time to come. The 85 to 90 cent per mile rates paid by the big guys will become the norm for most O/Os. But if we are smart and efficient we will survive and continue to proudly play our vital yet silent role in the economy of the USA.