Overdrive

September 2013

Overdrive Magazine | Trucking Business News & Owner Operator Info

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Voices Hot Buttons Bailouts: No more, no way, no how IT ETROUT D O BAIL supported corrupt city government want the rest of Americans to bail them out. No way!" Detroit's bad decisions, many suggested, "should not be so easily forgiven," wrote John Scott. "Who learns from a bad policy or business model if someone will bail you out [when you fail]? It's no different than kids today with parents who would rather be their kid's friend than mentor. Two mistakes don't make a right." Bailouts of the kind that were extended to the financial sector and the auto industry only "masked the cause of the problem," Long added, "which was that management ceased trying to keep union worker compensation in line with their productivity." Detroit, in addition to certain other cities, he noted, appears to have been "doing the same thing with its unionized work force. … If we allow Detroit to fail, it will either vanish from the earth, or it will 'get real.' All of the pension obligations that are not funded will Watch for our Hot Button questions and have your political voice heard at: 'What a violent machine!' Witnessing the tricked-out Class 8 rigs that racer Mike Ryan hauls up the Pike's Peak Hill Climb year after year is something that has to be seen, says Don Christner, who made the event for the first time this year. The course rises from a start at 9,400 feet to 14,110 feet, gaining almost a mile in altitude. Ryan wouldn't beat the Class 8 record on the 12.42-mile, 156-turn With Detroit in bankruptcy and other U.S. cities not far behind, should the federal government (and taxpayers) bail them out? No 78% I don't know Yes 2% 4% Yes, but Yes, but with full with full repayment repayment on clear and terms significant interest 7% 9% remain not funded, and the people who never earned the money will never get the money. Where is the harm in that?" Facebook.com/OverdriveTrucking @OverdriveUpdate Attending the Pike's Peak Hill Climb needs to be on everyone's bucket list! Don Christner George Long, in his comments on this Hot Buttons poll at OverdriveOnline.com, noted the typical resolution when city governments facing default on their debts: Their state governments often assume responsibility, hitting only that state's taxpayers. With Detroit in crisis and local officials and advocates appealing to the U.S. Congress directly for a bailout, Long reflected the large majority of readers in urging federal restraint. "We erred in bailing out Detroit's base industry," he wrote of the bailouts of the automobile industry. "Let's not err in bailing out Detroit. Let them re-establish their own credit rating through proper management." David S. McQueen: "The people of Detroit elected those corrupt politicians. Now, when it's time to pay the piper, the people who — reader Don Christner Colorado Springs-area course June 30, given rain squalls and other slippery conditions that had put a damper on some of the racing. But after all manner of traditional vehicles bested the wet Peak, "Late in the day, this Freightliner truck came past," Christner wrote of Ryan's super- turbo-modified Cascadia. "What a violent machine this thing was!" Keep tuned to ppihc.com for details on next year's event, scheduled for July 29. Find more about Ryan's rig, including race video, by searching "Mike Ryan" at OverdriveOnline.com. — Todd Dills 12 | Overdrive | September 2013 Voices_0913.indd 12 8/29/13 9:53 AM

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