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Blog entries are made so as not to reveal customer specifics or the current location of the truck when we are under load. Entries are updated to include location information after we leave the area. Blog author Top of page Bottom of page
Wednesday, July 1, 2009. I learned today that California will issue IOUs instead of paying its bills with cash. Learned from news reports.
This is the latest economic disaster in a string of them that began in 2008. People keep talking about the recovery but the evidence points to further decline. The housing crisis, implosion of Wall Street, major bank failures and rising unemployment rates have all been followed by talk of the recovery, as if recovery is a sure thing that lies just around the corner.
No such luck. A recent trip around the corner took us to the bankruptcy of Chrysler and General Motors. Yesterday's turn around the corner took us to a now insolvent State of California.
The term in vogue these days on financial news channels is "green shoots." Any indicator, no matter how trite, is called a green shoot and offered as evidence that economic recovery is just around the corner. Wanting to feel good, and looking for green shoots of any kind in which they can place their hope, people are ignoring the train wrecks that are devastating the ground and crushing their precious green shoots.
California's IOUs are not a solution to that state's budget crisis. They are a problem that increases the state's debt and will create further problems down the road. The bankruptcy of industry giants Chrysler and GM is a solution that clears the books, but it is a problem that increases unemployment and decreases economic activity in historically significant ways.
Merging weak banks that are too big to fail into bigger banks that are also weak is a solution that averts immediate panic. It is also a problem because it only increases the size of the bank crashes that may yet come. (Banks have yet to deal with the mountains of worthless sub-prime paper they keep hidden in their closets. Property values that secure loans continue to decline. Consumers are increasingly unable to pay off their credit cards. etc.)
Trying to ease the pain of the indebted American consumer by creating mountains of new public debt and injecting stimulus dollars into the economy is a solution that reduces political heat. It is also a problem that elevates debt to unimaginable levels, and threatens to weaken the dollar and spark inflation.
The solution to banks that are too big to fail is bigger banks? The solution to a nation whose citizens took on too much debt is more debt? We're not fixing anything. We are pushing the same old problems down the road where their consequences will be worse than if we dealt with them today. Need proof?
California.
I'll stop here. I can see it coming, maybe. A piece is bubbling up from within, "Driving in the American Economy." I have better things to do with my time than add such a piece to the many pieces already written by others.
After driving overnight from Denver, Colorado, we delivered a load near Spokane, Washington this morning. Today was a day of rest. In the last few days we have driven from West Virginia to New Mexico to Colorado to Washington.
Diane was ready to haul more freight and had thoughts about chasing some by deadheading to Sacramento, California to wait for freight there. With the long weekend coming, getting stuck in Washington with no freight to haul is not a pleasant thought. I was not ready to haul more freight and exercised the veto power each of us has. We stayed in service to consider load offers but also used the day to rest.
No acceptable load offers were received and we spent a quiet day at the Petro truck stop just west of Spokane. Blog author Top of page Bottom of page
Thursday, July 2, 2009. I learned today more about trading. Learned by practicing.
We woke up this morning at the Petro truck stop near Spokane, Washington. Later in the day, we accepted a load offer for less pay than we normally accept, and it does not pick up until Monday. That's OK. We have plenty of work to do while we sit.
Except for bathroom breaks and a two-hour break late in the afternoon, I spent sunrise to midnight in front of my computer, practice trading. Notice I did not say studying. I said practice trading.
I have finally gotten to the point where I can use my new trading platform (computer software that enables users to follow the markets and trade in real time) instead of just learning how to use it. Today was a blast! As I made several practice trades, I got better at using the platform. It's the difference between reading how to ride a bike and actually riding one.
The new broker and platform enables me to do something I could not easily do before. I can now access products and markets worldwide. That means I can trade anytime, day or night, on days the markets are open.
The books about the markets and strategies have become redundant and boring. The trading platform is something I am now able to use. Months of study and preparation have paid off. While study and research will never cease, more of my trading time will now go into actual trading.
Practice trading will continue until my confidence and skills grow strong enough to trade with real money. I feel ready to jump in right now but am taking the more prudent course. I need to rack up a net winning record over a period of time. Before I enter the arena where highly-skilled, cold-blooded, professional traders have it as their sole purpose to take my money out of my pocket, I need to prove to myself that I can play the game and win. Blog author Top of page Bottom of page
Blog entries are made so as not to reveal customer specifics or the current location of the truck when we are under load. Entries are updated to include location information after we leave the area. Blog author Top of page Bottom of page