... and there is nothing in this proposal that undermines short-haul freight. Trade-off stronger enforcement of driver rotation on unionized and non-unionized drivers alike and support the blocking of moves to allow Mexican drivers to operate across the US ... a key to shifting big box store logistics to the Pacific Coast of Mexico and shifting the container traffic out of Los Angeles ...

... and the Teamsters might be persuaded to join the coalition. It would definitely be good for a range of industrial unions.


I've been accused of being a Marxist, yet while Harpo's my favourite, it's Groucho I'm always quoting. Odd, that.

... like Passenger HSR but five times worse.

OTOH, there's a political wedge built into the policy, since domestic oil producers gain an extra 5 cents per gallon over international oil prices when they sell inside the US.

So it offers benefits to both refiners, which benefit from lower risk of economic downturn, and the capital value of US-based oil producers, where the sure benefit of the 5cent bonus per gallon will offset a much larger speculative loss in terms of moderating oil price shocks.

for the Auto Industry its likely a small boost, with substantial reduction in transport costs.

Its the truck manufacturing industry that would face a bit of a hit ... of course, not as big of a hit as the one they are insuring against if the US drops its oil demand and that results in moderation of the next oil price shock ... but its a smaller industry, and its actually not as big an impact on vehicle fleet as on vehicle miles, because the long haul truckloads put a lot of miles on each vehicle a day.

Indeed, if it increases economic activity in the US, demand for trucks for the local-haul market would rise.


I've been accused of being a Marxist, yet while Harpo's my favourite, it's Groucho I'm always quoting. Odd, that.

For every long-distance rail project, you also have to consider NIMBY protests.

_{*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.}