So, a lot of the mid west is underwater. I thought that San Francisco was the place that was going to be smote when we allowed teh gheys to enjoy all the joys and pains of marriage, just like the rest of us. But no, apparently the correct omnipotent response to amber waves of intolerance is to give those protesting sanctimoious a-holes a bath. (See also: Hotaling's Whiskey's miraculous survival of the 1906 firestorm)
Of course, the waters on top of Iowa will eventually recede, and we will start rebuilding it in earnest. That will first require raw materials (and labor) to build the buildings, and then durable goods to fill them. These days, those durable goods are most likely to arrive in the US via the shipping ports of Long Beach, Oakland or Seattle (and the wood for those wood-framed homes with their redwood decks? Containers full of fuel-efficient Kias and Suzukis? *nod,nod*)
And how are those goods going to get from California to the mid-west? Trucks burning $7 diesel? No, the trans-continental hop is going to be done on rails, and controlled by CSX and Union Pacific (which will be raising their prices to meet demand, while keeping prices below equivalent road-transit rates).
I'd like a piece of that.
$77.36 (06/22/08)
