WCGreen  (1000+ posts)      | Mon Jun-02-08 03:26 AM Original message |
| Look for Railroads to make a quick comback... |  |
 | The independent trucker, one of the last of the romantic figures left in America, is about to go under for the third time. Rising fuel costs that he (or she) can't pass on are rapidly forcing the independent freight haulers to park the rig. In a way, the truck lived on American Greed and cheap oil, the elixir that made us all feel as if we could get anything we wanted at anytime at an affordable price. But now, with the price of gas skyrocketing, the lonesome train whistle may be calling us back to the days when trains were king. And with airlines soon to abandon smaller markets because they can't afford to fly anything that isn't chock full of customers, passenger trains will quickly fill the void. I see freight being carried into cities by train and then trucked around in soon to be developed electric short haul trucks. People will stop heading for greener pastures and abandon the exurbs. Farm land will be reclaimed from far flung developments. Cities will once again be the centers of life that they once were. The market will work it's magic. Okay, okay, clap my hands and tinkerbell will wake from the dead. I just have to look at the bright side once and awhile. All this gloom and doom about peak oil, energy crisis and impending food shortages is making me weary. But I do think this will all shake out for the good. It's unfortunate that our country has allowed our leaders to become one with the economic power of oil and we did nothing, nothing to prepare for this day that anyone who was around for the first Earth Day knew was coming. We have pain coming, large doses, but I think in the end, we shall prevail. It won't be the same consumer oriented society we have come to loath and love, but it will be a better one for our children and our childrens children.  |
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