Truckers have staged protests across America as high gas prices threaten their livelihoods. This group of people is one of the hardest hit by high gas prices.

Last week, hundreds of independent truckers took to the highways to protest the high gas prices. On April 1, 250 trucks crawled up Interstate 75 at 20 miles an hour near Atlanta. The same day around 200 truckers gathered near Newark, driving at 20 miles an hour on one of the nation’s busiest highways. At the Port of Tampa, over 50 drivers refused to work. In West Virginia, at least 60 truckers protested outside the state capitol late last week. Although there is no major union for many of the truckers, there are even talks of a nationwide strike.

If a national strike was pulled off, it would certainly get the country’s attention. With food vanishing off the shelves, something would have to done, quickly. Such a strike, though, is unlikely. During the fuel crisis of the 1970s truckers tried the same thing, but the strike quickly fizzled out and had little effect.

Many truckers can simply no longer afford to work. Ten years ago, diesel cost around $1 a gallon. Now it costs about $4. “I think the strike is a great idea,” said one truck driver. “But how do you go on strike when you’ve got no work? That’s a hard one to figure for me.”

With growing demand from China and India, it is unlikely that oil prices will fall too dramatically. The cost of diesel may dip from its current high but will probably never return to 1998 levels.

The plight of truck drivers shows how increasing world oil demand and global instability are starting to hit home. The Plain Truth, the Trumpet’s predecessor, warned its readers to “prepare greatly to reduce your standard of living.” Truck drivers are having to do this as high oil prices hit. But they are only among the first. For consumers, high gas prices translate into higher food and commodity prices. Meanwhile, as homes fall in value and credit crises set in, people have less wealth, real and perceived.

The United States may recover somewhat from this downturn. Ultimately though, the economy cannot last the way it is. For more information, see our article “The Coming Storm.” It may be that the truckers are caught in the outer edges of this storm.