Trucking Topics
A new year brings new resolve for most everyone I know. We make promises to ourselves to be better people, to take better care of our bod-ies, to be more responsible with our money. But this year is not about our personal resolutions as much as it is about a national movement like I have not seen in my lifetime. Drivers from all walks of life are simply tired of vot-ing for politicians, on the left and the right, who represent themselves with one set of values to get elected, and act with a completely different set of values once they are in office. I am not alone when I say government policy is hurting the trucking industry and future policy will be the very nail in the coffin for thousands of operations. We have been promised higher income taxes and that is just the beginning. Let me give you the short list of issues that has drivers concerned at unprec-edented levels. The EPA wants to know more about the CO2 output of class 8 engines, which I believe will certainly lead to some type of fee or penalty. The FMCSA is considering a new hours of service rule, which will likely make trucking less profitable. Congress is considering cap and trade policy, which will increase costs for all indus-tries. If that wasn't enough, the federal and state governments are talking about increasing fuel taxes. We have been told time and time again that Trucking Topics A NEW YEAR REVOLUTION By Eric Harley, Host of the Midnight Trucking Radio Network eric.harley@citcomm.com, www.midnighttrucking.com 18 // COMPANYDRIVER // JANUARY 2010 TransportDesigns_CD0110.indd 1 12/5/09 10:55 AM Company Driver CD0110_Trucking Topics.indd 18 12/6/09 5:49 PM