Originally Posted By: mulehead
It would get better mpg and cost less food prices and feed costs would go down but it's all about farm state votes and Washington control
What planet are you living on? Corn is at prices that we had in the mid 90's. They are surprisingly low, what would be the equivalent of minimum wage if we were talking about incomes. You guys really have to get a life on this ethanol conspiracy thing. Would be much better if you actually knew a little bit of what you throw out. And "food" prices being lower? There is so much that goes into that, primarily processing and transportation costs. You want to bellyache about government, at least point the finger in the right direction.
Due to massive regulatory mandates (madness is a better word) that have been dumped on the transportation sector, and many more to come soon, there is growing capacity shortage and a somewhat serious shortage of personnel. The economic conditions knocked a lot of trucks out of the available capacity over the last few years. A laundry bag of regulations that have materialized has made it so much of that truck capacity will not return anytime soon. And it is one thing to buy a truck or a fleet, try to find drivers that can get thru the maze of regulatory issues and keep you from getting into a quagmire with the FMCSA. There just isn't a large pool of qualified drivers, and it is more difficult to pry them away from companies that already have them. And then there is the insurance carriers. You can't just grab a person off the street, hand them a CDL, and have them drive your truck. You have to drug test them, urinalysis now with also hair just around the corner. If they can get thru the physical, they still may require a sleep apnea test per the doctor doing the physical. And any kind of negative driving record already? Say good bye! And no one with anything more than a mild misdemeanor is going to make it thru screening to drive OTR.
This has led to one thing certain. If you want me to show up with a truck to haul your food, you are going to have to ante up. I will not haul it for what I did just a few months, and even weeks, ago. There are plenty of customers vying for my equipment to move their stuff. I am the busiest I have been in years. I have to turn down loads right and left.
That is why food prices are so high. And I haven't even discussed the myriad of regulatory hoops that food processors and other business' in the food chain have to go thru and those costs are passed right along.
You hate ethanol. I get that. But at least get your facts right. Corn is not the problem. Ethanol had no real impact on corn prices or availabilty of food. It is all the stuff between the crop field and the consumer that is sucking the money out of your wallet. And the primary reason is that your government claims to care for you.