I don't understand

Wow Tip. Excellently said. I know you were paraphrasing Thurow, but you obviously feel the same way.

So do I. But where is our "leader" who will bring us out of this morass we find ourselves in? Who will finally rally us into what could be called a "call to arms"?

Will it ever happen? Or should we all just eat the proverbial "copper jacketed lead sandwich"?

I for one would be willing to put my neck out on the line NOW for some kind of action. I would even be willing to be at the forefront leading it.

A movement however is only as good as those that participate and keep it rolling.

This industry is going downhill. NO ONE is willing to do ENOUGH to change it. Most of us just sit back and allow the cogs to roll. Roll right over us and crush us into un-remembered oblivion. Whine until the cows come home. Contemplate and argue the facts, and do NOTHING.

Well, now that that is said, where will the revolution come from? Or should I start to learn Mandarin, so that I will be able to exist in the "new world order"?

Geesh. Someone please knock me off my pedestal.............

Stick

 

My husband wanted me to tell you suzimama what I've learned about the trucking .Listen to these people . And don't turn your back or bend over is the number one thing I've learned .There are good companies but unfortunately there are bad ones to .I to have a home business and feel trapped and I don't make enough to survive due to being jerked around .I'm alone a lot and I never see him and it kills me when I see my hubby walk thru the door after being gone for 14 days and he can't pay the truck repair because the company has a computer glitch .It's a whole new ball game and it has aged me and I'm still young and most of all I've grown hateful .I'm just warning you it'll change you no matter what you think .I rather die than be a trucker but that's me .But no matter what I personally feel I respect anyone that is a trucker because I know what they go thru .

 

I have never read Thorow. But I have my beliefs about this issue. The problem comes from greed. It's pure greed. And it stems from the stock market and a gambling mentality.

The stockmarket was created origionally to help people get businesses off the ground and grow them. The idea was to get capital into the working mans hand so that innovation could meet drive and determination. But, it has gone out of control.

At one time the corporations were being run by families and even though people outside the corporations put money into them, they did not expect huge returns in short amounts of time. The families that owned much of the stock actually worked there.

But now a person believes they should put a few thousand into a corporation and that money is gonna fly back to them exponentially larger than they put into it. It's like playing the lottery or going to the Casino. Only people actually expect a huge return and the American workers are paying the price.

At one time companies were said to be profitable if the workers took home good pay and could support their families. But now the company isn't said to be profitable unless there is more than 20% growth in the company and the stockholders are seeing big enough dividends. Since the management can not make that happen faster than it ordinarily would, they manipulate the system by taking it out of the workers hides.

My own husband has given me this bull. All the years I've done daycare I have paid most of our cash bills. his job has managed to pay all our taxes, including the daycare taxes and provide the insurance. The money he gives me for the family is fixed and pays a few big bills. If he gets a bonus or overtime which he hasn't earned in over a decade, he spends it on the house. For the last decade he has had to give me less and less towards bills so he can try and plan for our retirement and work on the house.

So, he complains the daycare isn't profitable enough. It's a business don't you know. It hasn't been good enough to keep a roof over our heads, food on the table, cable tv to entertain us, cell phones to stay in communications, car payments to keep us on the road, clothes, educational supplies to teach all the kids including our own, co-payments at the doctors, co-payments for drugs and I could go on and on.

My husband is so doctrinated into the business world that he feels that my business is not profitable enough because I haven't been able to figure out how to put tons of money away for my own future or take vacations etc.

It's true that the profit is not great for the amount of actual work expended. But the dividends of me being home with the kids have been fantastic. He has certainly been able to concentrate on his career because he never worried about where his kids were or what was going on with them. He never had to take a day off to deal with family business.

I don't know what kind of revolution we could create to force the companies that now exist to behave any differently. After all, this is capitalism at it's best. And I don't want to live anything differently. I don't want someone to come a long and tell me what I am allowed to charge my daycare parents or what my policies can be. It's my business. I'll run it as I see fit.

If you want better, then create your own trucking companies. How many of you don't have families at home anymore? How many of you have kids that are about to leave home? How many of you never had families? Well get rid of your homes and earthly posessions. Stay out on the road. Form your own companies and put all your money into them. That's how people used to do it. People used to make personal sacrifices to get their businesses off the ground. But eventually people just looked for something different. They wanted to work less, get home more and they expected it.

Before the union people worked 15-20 days without a day off. Those days were long 10-14 hour days. Kids worked in those shops too and many of them were extremely young. The union was right to be formed but lots of people died to give us our cushy 40 hour work weeks. But for whatever reason the trucking industry is different and I haven't figured it out.

But I'm here to tell you the union went too #### far. The union keeps lazy good for nothings in their jobs. The American worker has become lazy good for nothings that lie, skip too much work, routinely steal from their employers and complain constantly. There are a lot of problems on both sides of the fence.

But would you rather live in a country where you have no choices? Would you like to be told what you will do for a living and be dictated to? We give too much freedom to our government. But have you ever asked why? It's because we want to be taken care of. We want the government to pay us social security, take care of our sick, take care of our weak in mind, take care of our perpetually horny people that spit out too many kids and the list goes on and on.

Regulations are not what's evil. What's evil is that people are too lazy to do it themselves.

Take my business again. The states are spending millions per year to pay staff to regulate daycares. Why? Because parents are too stupid to really check out a provider and get to know the person? Because a parent is too lazy to interview several providers, check their references, do a little research, pay 50 bucks for a background report, state workers are hired to do so. We expect the government to do far too much.

And why? Because we don't really teach government to kids and we don't teach activism to them. How many people don't even bother to show up to the polls? How many people hate the choices being given to us?

Then again, becoming a politician didn't used to be a paying proposition. People used to run their own businesses and become a public servent for FREE.

These are huge issues. Only the American people can change them one item at a time.

But I'll give you a little hint.. If you start your own trucking companies you will work just like you do now.

I have learned that if I want to live a certain lifestyle I have to WORK. I don't get the luxury of taking days off, calling in sick, or handing the reigns over to someone else. When I leave for any length of time I have to worry over whether or not my family will remember all the diapers, feed the kids what they should be fed or just junk instead. In fact, they may forget a child came in after supper and they may not feed the child at all! I know how to run things and consequently it's hard for me to trust anyone else to do the job at all. I need help sometimes and I accept it. But I know that if I started any company, any company at all.. I'd never work any less than I do now which is virtually ALL the time.

When I finally get the kids into bed at night I am so tired I can't see straight. The last few days I've been staying up and reading what all of you are saying on here. Yesterday the fatigue from not sleeping was finally getting to me. I had to go to bed and sleep with the kids. So I'm back up early this morning doing it again.

The only difference between you and me is that I do this for myself and you do this for someone else. The net results are about the same.

People believe daycare providers are greedy. I see these ads online all the time from parents seeking cheaper daycare. They complain that we are getting rich off of them and it has to stop. But what is really happening is gas is going up because of other companies greed...or possibly other factors we can't understand because we don't know...maybe the CEO's are making 15 million a year...which my husband says he heard.. At any rate, gas is going up, shipping costs are going up, all prices are going up. People are feeling a pinch and they are looking around and trying to find someone else to screw to make up for the change in their finances. They think they can find new young moms to replace those of us that are making a somewhat passable wage.

What they will get is young, inexperienced moms that barely know how to take care of their sweet 6 month old child. These young daycare providers won't be able to afford to really feed the kids. So they will have peanut butter sandwhiches with macaroni and cheese almost every day. They will watch tv all day because they won't be able to afford educational toys and they will figure out that a bottle of glue, a stack of colored paper and glitter lasts about 10 minutes in a group of kids. So the kids won't do too much outside of watching tv.

Could I do daycare cheaper? Sure. But could I do it cheaper without sacrificing quality? No.

Take your business for a moment. Is it just the companies fault drivers are keeping double books in order to make more money while endangering our lives? It's greed and it's ignorance that makes people think they can run their trucks into the ground and live on speed to do it just for some almighty cash.

I don't have all the answers. But at least I understand that. Too many people like to look at someone elses business and think they would change this or that and they would do it better. You think so? So do it.

I don't think that I could be a better truck driver. I don't think I would be able to take the lumps without getting angry. What I think is that my kids are going to start having babies all over the country and my current lifestyle will not get me out to see those babies. I think I want to be part of their lives and the telephone doesn't cut it. What would those kids have to say to their grandmother that they have seen aproximately twice by the time they are old enough to get on the phone? I think it cost a helluvah amount of money to travel and that I won't be doing it unless I figure out how.

If any of you think you could do a better job as a dispatcher.. Then hand your truck over to someone else and become a dispatcher. If you think you could offer better wages, then go out and solicit funds for a new corporation and start your own trucking company.

Have you ever thought that maybe the American workers in many cases don't deserve more? I'm flabbergasted that the trucking companies are advertising how long a person has to wait with a DUI or a felony on their record. The very fact that enough people have these in their past that the trucking companies are forced to take people like that is sick. Do you know there are 6 digit jobs in California that don't get filled because they can't find anyone that is qualified for them AND can pass a drug test?

We don't have quality jobs because we aren't raising quality people. Do I have the answers? No. But I'm here to tell you that if I could come up with the money to start my own...fill in the blank.. I would never hire anyone with a criminal background or someone that has done drugs in their past or present.

People are lazy and greedy. They want to live like the devil, show up for work when they feel like it and go home when they feel like it. It's no different in my line of work. These ladies think they should open up at 7:30 am and close their doors at 5:30pm. Never mind that huge amounts of American workers have jobs outside of these hours.

Sorry...I'm rambling.

I'll demonstrate my point with one more statement then I'll shut up.

Someone comes on here and asks if their ticket will keep them from working as a truck driver. He say's that 6 months ago he was going 60 in a 45. Well HELLO you stupid jerk. You don't deserve to have a license for a 4 wheeler and you want to drive an 18 wheeler and endanger the lives of everyone else on the road? HUH?

Suzi

 

We have a lot in common, we just want to go about getting to where we want to go in different ways. I see the government as being key. I don't have much faith in the free market, as there are too many lazy, greedy people in the free market who will throw me to the wolves if I don't work hard enough for them at the cheapest rate around.

I have chosen to leave the USA, as I wouldn't want my ideas being shoved down people's throats unless they wanted those ideas. When I was young I believed that revolution was the key, and I still believe that. Today I believe the inner revolution is what is important, which means pulling up stakes and leaving if one must. Don't force others to accept your ideas....just go to where the people already are who believe what you believe. You don't have to beat on a dead horse, as it's a big world out there with over 6 billion people in it.

 

I hope you find your Utopia. Being a Christian and believing that the world as we know it will end someday, I'm just passing through this life and don't feel that I can lead or even take part in any revolutions. I can be hopeful that change will happen to some degree. But I don't believe anything will get much better for any length of time between here and the day God's final plan will take place.

Suzi

 

No, that's a description of a half@$$ run company. Or one that has gotten you 2000 miles from home when the emergency comes up. Or plain does not care.

A good company will have you home within 24 hrs or less. Even if they have to fly you. A good company had me sitting in OK City within 2 hours of the phone call I received in San Antonio, TX.

Now with that mouth full said. There are MORE half@$$ companies, than there are caring and "good".

 

I understand that, I find it funny that people complain and yet they never try to change things, in the military I was use to getting the shaft, untill I placed myself in a position to change things and I did for my section, but it did teach me that no matter what if you do your job, when you get the check you know you earned it. and yes the dispacher will try to get you to run illegal, but that is when you need to have the fortitude to tell them no, it's a part of being a profesional driver, it's one thing to drive illegal a few mins every once and a while, and another thing when they have you do it everyday or when ever they want you to for hours and telling you that you have to. just like the military it's not for everyone, if you don't like working long and hard for decent pay then you might not want to look at trucking. and yes for the most part the trucking industry is under apriciated (i know Sp) and have a bad rep because of a few bad apples, that and many of the 4 wheelers don't know how to drive around us, let alone any other 4 wheelers, and that is why accidents are our fault in their eyes when it's not, but I will say this thanks for the job you do guys and gals, mabey we should have as a drivers license requirement that every one has to drive 2000 miles in a rig before they can drive a car, I learned to drive a 5 ton in south korea before I even drove a car. wel it's time for me to go and pack Oh and thank you crazymama for doing whay you've done, mom mother did the same thing and I helped her every chance I had and I would have to say that it's one of the most nerve racking thing I've ever done

 

Oh that's easy, they'd have to be shot at. What do you think revolution is? Nothing more than the most grisly chastisement of capitalism possible.

 

By the way, the trucking industry is nuts. I'm pretty close to getting my CDL and what I dread most is the hiring process. At first I feared logbooks, then shifting, then this & that, but when it comes down to it, it's the crapshoot of finding a decent company. My standards are low however, anything above .30 and keeping me out for three weeks at a time is all I want.

 

so trucking sucks ?