by Billie Thomas

Created on: March 29, 2009   Last Updated: April 01, 2009

Yes, we are headed for another depression, if we're not already in it. I am in the trucking industry and have seen major changes in the last year. Normal people, who live and work in their own community, are seeing a very small piece of what is going on in the United States, I see it from my windshield in every community, every day. I also see it in my finances.

For the public, it seems to have started last year with the high fuel prices. People who were just making it before gas prices went up were not making it with the high gas prices. They had to choose between making a house payment and car payment, or between buying groceries and putting gas in the car to go to work. No one had money to spend on eating out or buying the extra goodies we all love. And on top of that, prices of everything else went up, as well.

One of the reasons the price of goods and groceries went up was that companies had to pay more to have their goods moved by truck. Diesel prices went up, too, and trucking companies had to raise fuel surcharges to make up for it.

So a cycle began of people not buying, companies not shipping because nothing was selling, prices going up, people not buying, on and on.

Driving across the country, we see many businesses that are now shut down, car lots full of cars they can't sell, houses for sale. Much more than a year ago. We talk to shippers and receivers who are about to shut down or are cutting their work force in half.

The unemployment rates that we hear on the news are not accurate. They are only counting the people who have filed for or are collecting unemployment. People who are not eligible for unemployment don't count. People who were working part time before they lost their jobs, people who were self-employed, and many others are not counted in those statistics.

In 2008, 137,000 trucks came off the road due to going out of business from the high fuel prices. And that report only included trucking companies with 5 or more trucks. Small businesses with less than 5 trucks weren't counted. Neither were major companies like Swift, US Express, and Schneider, who have parked much of their fleet. So it's possible that a number closer to reality would be 200,000 or more.

This year, the fuel prices are down, but freight rates have dropped almost to half of what they were. This is because, even with the number of companies that have gone out of business and the number of trucks off the road, there are still more trucks than there is freight. People are still not buying. There are many that are out of work and have no money. So we are still in a cycle of no spending, no shipping, and no production.

It seems that eventually the economy will soon slow down to a complete stop.

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