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Quote of the Day
"Life is like a grindstone – whether it grinds you down or polishes you up depends on what you’re made of."
– author unknown
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Drivers Sound Off
Like everyone else, perhaps more so, over-the-road drivers are worried about the economy. They’re also concerned about rising health care costs, illegal immigration, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the cost of fuel, the billions of dollars allocated to bail out the banking and auto industries and all the other issues – big and small – that anyone would be concerned with.
With that in mind, Over the Road and Pro Trucker magazines recently asked a handful of truckers the following question:
Is the country going in the right direction?
Here are some of the replies:
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Dustin Link, 24, Boyceville, WI
Professional driving experience: 6 years
“I don’t know. I really don’t. There’s a lot of things they need to straighten out or there are going to be a lot of people going under, inside and outside of the trucking industry.”
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Mike Roberts, 48, Oklahoma City, OK
Professional driving experience: 20 years
“With Obama, no, I don’t think so. But I don’t have the answers to all of the problems we’re facing that he’s trying to deal with. I would definitely close the borders. We’re overpopulated as it is. They talk about birth control in China. Maybe we ought to start talking about birth control here because we are definitely overpopulated, big time, and that’s destroying America, in my opinion.”
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Robert Peroutky, 58, Lyons, IL
Professional driving experience: 15 years
“I think it’s going downhill. Wall Street and those hedge funds, whatever, they broke the country. Then they give them loads of money to fix what they broke, and all they want is more. The greed is unbelievable. I worked for GM for 36 years and retired, but now I have to go back to work because that party is just about over.”
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Ken Haag, 55, Slippery Rock, PA
Professional driving experience: 37 years
“It’s bad now and it’s going to get a lot worse. We cannot keep bailing companies out the way we’re doing. All of that debt is going to cause a lot of problems down the road.” |
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James Pate, 55, Utica, KY
Professional; driving experience: 21 years
“I have hope that Obama can turn things around. Our economy has always been a roller-coaster ride. The only thing different between what’s happening now is it’s a little worse than what we’ve seen in the past. As bad as things are now, they will turn around and they will get better. Truckers, however, are going to face a constant battle. When the economy does turn, then fuel prices will surge. Our profits will get better because of the fuel surcharges, but it will be offset by the high cost of fuel, so we still won’t make any money. It’s taken me 21 years to come to my senses and realize that’s just how it is. I’ve accepted it.”
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