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WASHINGTON — Horns blaring, a caravan of truck drivers arrived in Washington on Monday to protest high gasoline prices.
The group, Truckers and Citizens United, circled the National Mall before traveling to RFK Stadium to park. From there, they were to march and take shuttles to the Capitol, where an afternoon rally was scheduled. Organizers say about 350 vehicles were expected.
The mall is 2 miles long and about a mile wide, so it takes 6 miles to make a circuit around it. Assuming that the trucks in question get about 6 mpg and there were 350 trucks involved, they used up 2100 gallons of diesel. Diesel in DC is about $4.50 a gallon right now, so that's about $9500 in gas they used up.
The purpose of this exercise was to get the attention of our lawmakers (as well as the American people) that high fuel prices aren't just a problem for the trucking industry. They affect ALL Americans through higher prices for consumer goods. Thanks, John, for posting! (Incidentally, I noticed that the ABC Evening news only devoted a few seconds of footage to the truckers, lumping it in with a report on the economy in general. They DID, however, devote a complete report on the photo spread Miley Cyrus did for Vogue magazine and what a horrible thing it would do to her "Hanna Montana" Disney image. I guess the media has their priorities...)
The government doesn't set the gas prices, so it doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me to protest in Washington. Congress already knows that gas prices are high. Besides, the House wasn't even in session when the protest happened.
Do the truckers really want the government to step in and manage fuel use more than they already do? Or was this one of those "Somebody oughta do somethin'" protests where folks are frustrated but they want someone else to solve the problem.
The purpose of this exercise was to get the attention of our lawmakers (as well as the American people) that high fuel prices aren't just a problem for the trucking industry. They affect ALL Americans through higher prices for consumer goods. Thanks, John, for posting! (Incidentally, I noticed that the ABC Evening news only devoted a few seconds of footage to the truckers, lumping it in with a report on the economy in general. They DID, however, devote a complete report on the photo spread Miley Cyrus did for Vogue magazine and what a horrible thing it would do to her "Hanna Montana" Disney image. I guess the media has their priorities...)
I know , what a pile of crap. who really cares what she is doing. what she does, doesn't effect the price of fuel or groceries. you know , who cares. she's just following the rest of the messed up youth in hollywood.
The government doesn't set the gas prices, so it doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me to protest in Washington. Congress already knows that gas prices are high. Besides, the House wasn't even in session when the protest happened.
Do the truckers really want the government to step in and manage fuel use more than they already do? Or was this one of those "Somebody oughta do somethin'" protests where folks are frustrated but they want someone else to solve the problem.
Sean98125, there are many trucking industry issues that those coming to Washington would like addressed; such as making it mandatory to pass along any fuel surcharge collected for a shipment be passed on to the trucker who actually buys the fuel. There's also some issues with "transparency" of the money that changes hands as a load of freight goes from the shipper thru various middlemen and then to the trucker. Then there's the privatization of toll roads and other infrastructure. Boring stuff for those not in the trucking indsutry, but all of it leads to very difficult economic hardships for the folks who move America's freight by truck. And will ultimately affect every American.
Don't the Teamsters have enough power any more to make those changes? The middlemen and shippers would change their tune pretty quickly if they merchandise wasn't being hauled.
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