Get a Grip: Southern Idaho Fuel Prices are Heading for Record Territory

I saw the above yesterday in my Facebook feed.  John and his brother went to my school when we were kids back in the 70s. They were a few years behind me.  Very good-natured guys and they enjoyed a good joke.  John is a long-haul truck driver.  Grueling work and not for weak people.  One of my uncles drove the long haul for decades.  It didn’t help his marriage survive and he never had any children as he never settled down.  He witnessed as well a lot of carnage on the roads and some things you see you can never wipe from memory.

When I saw John’s post I wondered how long it’s going to be before a lot of drivers simply park their trucks.  In an already shaky economy with supply shortages, a perfect storm appears to be brewing.

Truck Drivers Need to Toot Their Horns

Drivers on their way to Washington to protest vaccine mandates may have another cause when they arrive.  They’ll have seen fuel prices climb to new heights in a matter of days.  Mr. Biden addressed Congress and called for spending more money we don’t have on green energy projects.  That’s not a solution.  Clearly not in the short term.

I know it’s difficult for a President to say his last opponent was on the mark, however.  President Trump wasn’t shy about pipelines and leasing federal land for drilling.  We had an energy renaissance and increased national security.

Imagine the Impact on Food and Milk

A farmer explained to me today that he’ll soon be spending 700 dollars a day on diesel!  He also burns through two tanks of gas as part of the daily operation.  He faces two choices.  Costs get passed along or he sells the cattle and calls it the end.  None of these are good options for consumers.  As we know, farmers rarely see any of the increases at the grocery store.  His latter choice is the more obvious.

As John posted about his fuel costs, a friend who owns a charter fishing business along the Atlantic Ocean shared his own frustration.  His post is immediately below.