Missing trucks, missing tourists

When I travel, if there is time, I avoid the interstates. America is so much more interesting on the smaller highways, the ones once described as “Blue Highways” by author William Least Heat Moon. Interstates are too often crowded by long-haul trucks and their 53-foot trailers (some doubles as well), so much so that one must concentrate on navigating around the traffic, the scenery if such there is, is missed.

This last trip was notable in that on both types of roadways there was a decided lack of big rig traffic. Some, to be sure, but not what I expected. At first I thought it was only my perception, or a slow day, but after 10 days of travel it became apparent that truck traffic was down. This led to research upon my return.

Another thing: I did not pick up on this at first, but after several days of eye-balling license plates it struck me that there were no Canadian vehicles.  In September, in the Mountain West, there are always Canadians.  And then I remembered that our government is blocking non-essential travel from the Great White North. To stop the spread of Covid, of course. Those hosers are well-known as super spreaders, eh?

There were plenty of Wisconsin, Minnesota, Illinois and Michigan tagged vehicles. California, Florida and Texas, naturally. We all visit the West to see the same great sites and scenery, but for different reasons. Northerners have completed their summer duties and want to catch a few more golden rays of sun before the cold arrives. Southerners head north because we are anxious for a taste of cooler weather, escaping the summer temps and humidity that linger on no matter what the calendar says.

Americans are more or less free to move about the country with few restrictions (don’t get me started on the ridiculous rules at national park buildings), but Canadians are not welcome.  Yet, on our southern border, we permit thousands of undocumented “migrants” to cross the border with little more than cursory medical evaluations (if that), then spend taxpayer funds to bus and fly these people to points unknown throughout the country where they likely will not show up for immigration court hearings. The logic escapes me, as it does most people.

Our “uninvited” guests will require social services of various kinds. Their children will need medical care and schooling. The adults will need stopgap food assistance, maybe even rent money. Yet the Canadians who cannot vacation here were ready to bring their cash, credit and debit cards and buy meals and merchandise.  How much of an economic loss this poses I cannot begin to fathom, but it is considerable.  Again, the logic is undetectable.

The lack of truck traffic is even more worrisome in that it is indicative of weakness in the supply chain. Just this week new warnings were issued from a coalition of truck drivers, airline workers and seafarers – not only for the U.S. but for other developed nations – that the transportation industry needs to be freed from Covid-related restrictions or we could face a “system collapse.” Two years of supply chain pressure are causing “buckles.” A large number of older, experienced truckers took retirement in order to ride out the pandemic shutdown. Replacements were (and are) not immediately available. Two years ago, going into the pandemic, there already existed a shortage of 60,000 drivers, according to the American Trucking Association. The number is expected to grow to 100,000 by 2023.

While trains do a lot of long-hauling, trucks are necessary for virtually all of the shorter-range deliveries. The cost of hauling goods will go up, and some commodities will be delivered to the highest bidder, because that’s how market economics works. (This too works against small business, as the big corporate giants either have their own trucking or they have the ability to outbid the competition). The cost of almost everything is rising, as anyone knows who shops. Which brings to mind the ignorant ramblings of the lead White House press secretary on Monday, who claims that businesses won’t raise prices of their taxes are increased:

White House press secretary Jen Psaki on Monday defended House Democrats’ tax plan in the face of criticism that the legislation would see taxes and consumer prices rise for many Americans. Psaki insisted President Joe Biden is committed to keeping taxes the same for anyone making less than $400,000 a year, and she called it “absurd” that companies would raise consumer prices in response to higher taxes.

“There are some … who argue that, in the past, companies have passed on these costs to consumers,” Psaki said. “We feel that that’s unfair and absurd, and the American people would not stand for that.”

Not sure (and don’t really care, or I’d look it up) where Jen Psaki received her education, but she should know that even socialists have to eventually bow to supply and demand, the inexorable market laws that cannot be regulated or legislated, and ignored at peril.

Meanwhile, if you were watching carefully and quickly, there were photos of scores of container ships parked off the eleven main ports of California, awaiting unloading. Some have been there for weeks. Over 500 containers yet to be off-loaded at Los Angeles alone. Contributing factors include shortages of dock workers, shortages of trucks to load, container ships that are several times larger than before and take extra time to unload, thus clogging the ports. It’s already a cluster and getting worse.

What are we to think? More importantly, what are we to do?

What won’t help is panic purchasing or hoarding. Better advice is figure out you’re your potential needs might be and begin small purchases of those things, having at least a month or so in reserve of those things that will keep you alive.  Any period of shortage will be met with panic buying, and that will only extend the period of shortage. (Remember the toilet paper crunch of 2020!)

Worse, however, is that this administration will likely leap into action to begin rationing or price controls, or both. In its hubris and conceit, believing that its planners actually understand markets, will screw up the marketplace. They probably will not hesitate to impose draconian restrictions on interstate commerce.

This is potentially nasty business. I would like to think that the American people are smart enough to reject command-and-control economics.  The reality is that I am less certain enough people remember that central planning has never worked very well.  Lord help us all if central planning is done on the basis of economic or racial or gender equity.

The real solution is freedom. Let the markets work and restore themselves. There will be a period of imbalance, but it will be resolved. Nothing screws up markets more than government interference. Americans should not stand for it. It is not enough to shout “F— Joe Biden” at NASCAR races and football games, as amusing (and as American) as that is. It is time for quiet, discerning talk among people of all political stripes to discover those principles and values we have in common, making plans to help one another over the hard times.

And voting overwhelmingly in 2022 to toss out the political support for the left.