Buffalohair UNTOLD STORIES

UNTOLD STORIES

From the heartland of America you would think farmers and truckers are revered but alas such is not the case. For the most part farmers are ignored and forgotten. Truckers are the pocks of society. But the real question is why. Why are these once revered and endeared groups outcasts today?

In the old days farmers and truckers were the salts of the earth. Farmers grew the crops that fed the nation and truckers delivered the goods and were the salvation of stranded motorists since time immemorial. Not much has changed other then the fact corporations with the help of the federal government have bankrupted most of the little farms and corporations from other nations bought up the land. Remember back in the 70’s when farms went belly up when the government suddenly stopped subsidizing farms? Well there is a dark secret Uncle Sam failed to tell you. I remember how the government agencies used to promote farmers to buy new and fancy equipment while using their farms as collateral. In 1976 these government people made such a big deal about buying new expensive equipment. Many farmers went for broke and upgraded their farms at government insistence. Then in 1977 the government pulled the rug out from the farmers leaving them in serious debt. The banks scored big time as farm after farm went under. Farms and ranches that were owned for generations found themselves on the auction block and corporate America stepped in and took full advantage of their plight. Now corporate farms have replaced most of the humble farms and another piece of Americana died in the process. In short, farmers were set up and lost everything because they trusted the government.

Today there are still some small farms but they face an up hill battle just to survive since they have to pay the astronomical fuel prices corporate farms don’t. Why? It’s really quite simply since corporations can buy in bulk leaving the little farms to fend for themselves. So you say it was a burden to the tax payer, all the farm subsidies eh. Well if the truth be known the corporate farms have subsidies that far over shadow the subsidies the little farms once had. The ethanol subsidies for corporate farms are astronomical. In all actuality it takes 2 or more gallons of fuel to produce 1 gallon of ethanol. But since the government is subsidizing all this, we the tax payer are footing the bill on both ends. The environment still suffers the negative effects of the 2 or more gallons spent in the manufacture. The price of feed and other food stuffs have skyrocketed and corporations glean yet more blood sweat and tears from the already cash strapped public. Pharmaceutical companies get subsidies to invent and manufacture drugs at the tax payer’s expense then we get hit with the price of development even though we foot the bill in the first place. Ah what the hell, no one pay’s attention anyway.

Then there is the on going war between the wagoners and the rail roads. This war was going on since the time of John D. Rockefeller. You remember him, the father of Chevron Oil and the Rail Road Empire eh. Back at the turn of the 20th Century wagoners were in competition with rail roads to distribute oil from Rockefeller’s refineries. Well he decided to up the cost of oil delivered by wagons to stop this intrusion of his rail roads. At the same time people were getting tired of all these monopolies and he had to divest his interests in many industries, rail roads and oil for starters.

So here we are today. Most people have a very negative view of truckers these days. Again this is quite simple since the corporate world controls the media at large and they’ve managed to sensationalize all the truck accidents and falsify statistics to make the independent truckers the scourge of the nation. You tell a lie long enough and people will believe it. The media did the same thing to the Native American’s with great success and my people were murdered for crimes the media fabricated. It was all about the money as well.

Yeah them trucks are noisy, they hold up traffic and truckers seem rude and distasteful for some reason. People forget that truckers kept small town America alive during the Great Depression and made Route 66 the legend it is today. Further the government deregulated trucking and heaped restriction after restriction along with exorbitant fees and extreme penalties for relatively minor infractions. The American Trucking Association should be better called the American Rail Road Association since they are not the voice of the independent and small trucking firms. Rather, they are the voice of rail road owned trucking firms who relish the elimination of all independent truckers and small firms who can beat their rates and give prompt service. Further, the government made it no longer a necessityfor new drivers to drive with seasoned veterans of the road. They simply pay a few grand, go to truck driving school and in two weeks, POOF, they are truck drivers. Back in the day a green driver spent months on the road with a senior driver to learn all the facets of driving. There was no way any school could teach drivers these salts of the driving world could.

Next time you are at a rail road crossing take a gander of all the truck trailers on flat cars and you will know the names of these corporate trucking companies who’s parent company’s are rail roads. The rail road lobby is a most lucrative one since they languish in government subsidies and promote laws and bills that only affect the non rail road companies. They also buy fuel in bulk from the oil companies and why not? They are still bed fellows since the time of John D. Rockefeller and you better bet your bippy they have conspired to destroy the competition. The monopolies of the turn of the 20th Century never really been broken they only went under ground.

I had the golden opportunity to know these veterans of the concrete sea. They are the last of the Big Strappers. Big Strappers was a term designated to seasoned wagoners who used to get those mules moving back in the 19th Century. Granted they are were not the social butterfly and pretty much stuck to themselves. They chose this life for one of many reasons. Some were WW II and Korean War vets others were Viet Nam War Vets. Others simply had a love of traveling and wanderlust. But all were American’s and stood tall within their trade fore trucking is not for everybody.

Donnie, a Krusty Old Buzzard, is the classic “Old School Trucker”. Though he is in his 60’s I would still think twice if I ever got cross threaded with him. He’s driven many millions of miles delivering freight all over America. He watched as cottage industries grew into major companies. He watched the land change in front to his wind shield. And he did his fair share of rescuing stranded motorists along the isolated highways of this land. He remembers when kids used to give the sign for him to toot his air horn and would oblige them with a blast from his rig. Today people only give him the finger, a sign of their distain for big trucks.

Ironically as people discuss ways to keep trucks out of their neighborhoods or heap more regulations and fees, they are eating sitting or dressed in something a truck delivered. The reality is your fresh veggies and tofu are delivered by independent truckers who rush to market for fresh deliveries. Corporate trucks do not deliver and the rail roads tried in vane to deliver fresh produce only to have it rot on a siding. The very paper used to make petitions against big trucks came in a 48 foot trailer.

Then there is Bob and Stacy a father and son trucking firm. They have delivered organic meats, tofu, soy milk and other sundry items to markets for many years. They like so many other independent truckers have been hit hard with fuel prices as well as over regulation of their father and son operation. Yet these salts of the earth keep on trucking and bringing the groceries home so you can have a fresh salad or enjoy a fresh cut of meat. But what do you care anyway? Maybe when you can only buy rancid meat that sat on some rail road siding for a few weeks will you appreciate what the independents once did.

The price of fuel has caused the rise in food costs and by no means has this increase helped the bottom line of these independents. The cost of operation has made many truckers go bankrupt while corporate rail road trucks picked up their loads. Just be forewarned whence the rail roads finally eliminate all independent companies they will fix the price of freight and your service will be marginal at best and that is a given.

It is funny how the devastating train wrecks with hazardous materials goes relatively unnoticed. Whole communities have disappeared do to contamination. But there was not a peep from the media eh, imagine that. The pollution from any train would rip a hole in the ozone but the rail roads can buy Carbon Credits, something truckers are not privy to. If anyone would take notice, after a train wreck the rail road will simply burry everything along the siding. This usually happens out of the public’s eyes so what’s the big deal?

Maybe that is why George Bush did not address the pollution of the drinking water recently discovered. He wants us to be sedated so we don’t make a stink about ANYTHING. Don’t get me started on the sedative called fluoride eh. You know, that drug Stalin, Hitler and other totalitarian leaders used to sedate their population. I don’t think Stalin was worried about tooth decay either. Hopefully the research done in the 60’s is still around where they verified that fluoride induces complacency in lab rats. Add all the drugs that have traveled through host intestinesand I’ll wager most of them will be psycho active drugs like Prozac, Zoloft and Thorazine. Ah, so what. After all, a sedated population is an obedient population. But that’s another story eh.

California was built by trucks. Orange County was once a farming community filled with groves of orange trees. It was the trucker, not the rail road who went to all these cottage industries picking up and delivering “LTL” (Less Than a Truck Load) helping them grow into the industries they are today. Sadly all the orange trees disappeared as well as the farmer by the way. Truckers were made out to be second class people as a whole. California has gone out of its way to make life hard for trucks in general since they have taken up the policy of backing corporations rather than the little man. Truckers are looked on with distain by law enforcement as well as the cash cow of fines and penalties. Guilty until proven innocent is the axiom of the California Highway Patrol and they are eager to arrest drivers for minor infractions of their bulging book of regulations. There are more different kinds of cops that look for fault with truckers than you can shake a stick at. There is the DOT cop, The Pollution cop, The noise cop and the list goes on and on. Each township imposes even more regulations that effect truckers. Other states are following suite since the cash cow of independent truckers is most appetizing to these pork barrel law makers.

Ah what do we care about some farmers and truckers anyway? Corporations have taken on every aspect of our daily lives. Viva Corporate Rule and down with the rugged individuals who originally built this land. It’s all about the money. Just so long as the media tells you all is nice and the news speaks of stock gains, everything is OK. Dare I mention the auto industry and the jobs that went out of country leaving career auto workers bankrupt? Or should I remind you of all the college educated poor who are loosing their homes as we speak since their companies out sourced all their jobs for a greater profit and bottom line?

Corporate Fascism or Corporate Communism, depending on which continent you live on, is erasing the little industries and those who oppose them at an alarming rate world wide. Yet the media is silent. The American dream has turned into the American Nightmare as corporate greed sucks the life’s blood out of every nation on this planet. There is no rugged individual nor are there any cottage industries who will survive this cancer that has infected the globe. Globalization will profit only a select few, the absolute minority of the Earths population at best. The farmer, trucker and auto worker were only the beginning. From the blue collar to the white collar worker, no one is safe and it’s only a matter of time before your career is on the chopping block.

If international corporate conglomerates have their way, we the people of Earth will be nothing more than slaves to the New World Order. Depression? You ain’t seen nothing yet baby fore we’ve already begun the downward spiral and the bottom is not in sight. Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!


Your Devil’s Advocate
Buffalohair
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Creativity is the byproduct of a fertile mind