CHAPTER 6
Americans have had a taste of what a relative handful of independent truckers can do to this country’s living and working habits.
When the independents quit rolling in early February in protest against skyrocketing prices and short supplies of diesel fuel—
• Violence flared on the nation’s highways….
• Gasoline supplies, woefully short already in some places, were reduced to critical levels….
• Stocks of meat and other perishable foods dwindled in retail stores, bringing on a wave of panic buying….
• As many as 100,000 workers were idled. Food processing plants and the auto industry were especially hard hit….
• Mail service slowed to a near halt… Magazine deliveries encountered massive delays…
Many affects were cumulative. Food shortages, particularly, could continue for
