By Pam Stegner
     The Chinese New year brought our trucking company to a near standstill for nearly 3 weeks on top of it being slow due to the economy.  The Chinese New Year is the most important Holiday in China and they completely stop work for a week and it is slow for a week going into their New Year and for a week coming out of it.  The US has become so dependent upon goods made in China (Chinamart, aka Walmart) that it affected the truckers in the US!  My husband is an owner operator who hauls containers from the rail heads out of Kansas City with destinations all through, MO, AR, IA, NB, & OK. 
     When the trucking industry, and owner operators in particular are washed up, this country is over.  The week that my husband didn’t work on top of the many  short weeks (4-3 days, no more 5 days of work a week) has had a devastating effect on our trucking company.  I can only pray that we will find a way to recover.  But it isn’t looking good!  The American Truckers need a bail out!