A blog is probably a great place to blow off steam without doing any real damage. And that’s a good thing because I am hopping mad about what’s happened to our economy. And I’m even angrier about how the bums back in Washington turned a blind eye while the fat cats on Wall Street gorged on our financial system.
We have been spoon-fed the usual excuses: too much debt in the private sector, an epidemic of sub-prime mortgage defaults, absurd leveraging of equity, malfeasance on the part of banking officials, both private and public. The list goes on. Well the whole damn mess stinks. Washington and the financial world had a great party at our expense, and now we have to suffer through a world-class hang-over.
Why did all of this happen? Who’s to blame? I truly believe in my heart of hearts it’s the politicians. They were trying to buy votes by promising miracles: universal health care, affordable housing, free college education for everyone. And the government would pay for all of this by writing I.O.U.’s to China, or any other country gullible enough to buy our debt. Well I’m not buying it! Why in the world should we trust a system that got us into this mess in the first place? I realize that my attitude is not healthy. But I am not sure what to do about it. I find it more and more difficult to watch financial talk shows and read the journal. It’s all too depressing.
It was at another difficult time in our Nation’s history, World War II, that General George Patton made a rather shrewd comment to his officers before a major offensive: “there comes an inevitable point in every battle, where both sides think they have lost.” A comment I suspect that was meant to emphasize the importance of positive thinking. Well, I promise to work on my attitude but it may take awhile. I do wonder how trucking (an industry I love and work in every day) will survive. All in less than 12 months: record diesel fuel prices, the strongest freight contraction since the great depression, record business defaults. Wow! Could it get any worse?
I suspect that our industry will be severely tested before it’s all done. Thank goodness transportation is the back-bone of our country. It will need to be strong.
Bill Ryan: Chairman
RTS Credit Service
RTS Financial Service
