Update from Jack

When I sent Jack the link to my published interview with him, he told me where he’d driven that day and added:

Right now, the freight rates are bad!  I’m not sure how any carrier can afford to accept these rates.  My operational costs are about 1$/mile. The loads out of this state are at or below that rate, so I’m hesitant to take one so cheap.  I’m contemplating the idea of just shutting down. The bigger trucking companies probably have an operational cost of 50 cents/mile, and can still profit from these cheap rates.  I can’t, and I am afraid that I need to try and make at least a few thousand dollars, so I can pay for next month’s insurance premium, etc. before shutting down. I never thought I’d come to this point.

Jack’s parking his truck for good doesn’t hurt him alone: it’s bad for all of us. Fewer trucks transporting to market equates to fewer products on the shelves. And consolidation of trucking firms into conglomerates will raise the rates, even if too late to save Jack’s livelihood, so that along with scarcity go higher prices—and more corruption as those huge corporations bribe politicians with “campaign contributions.”

Meanwhile, Jack sent me an article reporting “Officials urge Tyson Foods to shut down plant after employees test positive for COVID-19.” I don’t know whether he’s transported from this particular factory; what caught his attention was the local sheriff’s calling the shots on the plant’s staying open. 

Jack is a devout Christian. So all you pastors who are too fearful of spreading germs to meet as the Lord commands should realize how you’ve helped politicians to impoverish parishioners like Jack: by refusing to stand against this shamdemic, by failing to defy the State as it destroyed our world and economy, you’ve assisted and encouraged the triumph of utter evil.

When you repent before God, remember to beg Jack’s forgiveness, too. If I know Jack, he’s kind enough to grant it. 

But lots of us aren’t. And we have very long memories.

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