Good morning, it’s great to see you all in Las Vegas. Thank you for being here – I certainly hope you have had, and continue to have, an enjoyable and productive time.
Some of you have wondered why and how we selected Las Vegas as the location for this year’s meeting, and the truth is that we developed two very key criteria for the meeting location. Number 1: We wanted to get as far away from Washington as we could, but Number 2: without actually being in California.
Quick survey, how many of you have already uttered the phrase, “What Happens In Vegas, Stays In Vegas”?
Okay, and how many of you already have a reason to honestly hope that’s true?
Well, we all know that in this day and age, when every portable communication device, every BlackBerry and iPhone has a camera (and we’ve become a society conditioned and willing to use those cameras), nothing that happens anywhere – not just Vegas, but anywhere in the world – will be a secret for very long. If you’re lucky and come to Vegas and win big, you’ll have more new friends and opportunities to spend your winnings than you could ever imagine – starting, of course, with the Internal Revenue Service. And, if you come to Vegas and lose big, you’ll still have a mortgage to pay and a family to explain it to. Everything that happened to you yesterday is an element that makes up the life you’re living today – from the very good to the very bad and everything in between.
The same thing applies to the trucking industry. All that you’ve endured in 2009 becomes a part of your personal and professional life in 2010 and beyond. And the difference between the individuals and companies that tend to have more “good luck” versus the ones that have more “bad luck” boils down to the ability to use the past as a road map for a more successful future. Over two hundred years ago, the patriot Patrick Henry (best known for “Give me Liberty or Give me Death”) also said, “I have but one lamp by which my feet are guided, and that is the lamp of experience. I know no way of judging the future but by the past.”
Suffice it to say, most of you learned valuable lessons this past year – difficult lessons that should make you better in the future. The run-up in fuel prices is a perfect example. Whether you were running one truck or 10,000 trucks, figuring out how to manage almost $5 fuel was the difference between staying in or going out of business. Now that prices have subsided and are holding reasonably steady, the application of those lessons learned should continue to produce tangible financial benefits. And if you’re not continuing to practice those valuable lessons – well, let’s just say I won’t count on seeing you next year in Phoenix.
Like many American cities, Las Vegas got its first dose of economic vitality from the railroads. In the late 1800s, Las Vegas was identified by the Union Pacific as a strategic stopover for trains traveling from Los Angeles to Salt Lake City. Hard to believe, but the availability of water had a lot to do with that decision. By the mid-1930s, with the Great Depression devastating the nation, the railroad was long gone – due at least in part to a labor dispute – but the federal and state governments came to the city’s rescue: the feds by authorizing the construction of Hoover Dam and the state by liberalizing its divorce laws and authorizing gambling. Now, more than 100 years later, a new transformation is underway – turning the city into a diverse family entertainment destination. Forbes ranked Las Vegas and its almost 40 million visitors as the second most visited place in America, behind only to New York. Who would have thought that the original American “Sin City” could transform itself into America’s favorite family destination – outdrawing both Disney World and Disneyland?
Trucking has been faced with the same type of “transformational” moments throughout its history. From its early days as a novel, but relatively unreliable, means of moving products to and from the railroad depot, to its emergence as the critical supply chain tool in the U.S. victory in World War II, to the unprecedented industry growth fueled by the construction of the Interstate Highway System. And, while many harbored doubts about the deregulation of the industry in the early 1980s, and my father was certainly one of the doubters, that moment only served to further define trucking as the freight mode of choice for America.
I believe that we’re now faced with another of those transformational moments. This is a moment being shaped by a national political and economic transformation, and a global “population” transformation. The U.S. political transformation is evident in the evenly-divided support that the American electorate gives to the Republican and Democratic parties, much of that support unconditional and irrespective of their governing successes or shortcomings, often creating a situation where the most critical voters are the “middle of the pack” independent voters, whose support vacillates back and forth depending upon the “party in power’s” performance.
The economic transformation is more current and thus less understood, but has been driven by the recession, a significant loss of faith in our financial institutions and the still-rising unemployment levels. This has led to a recalibration of how Americans see their prospects for the future, resulting in very cautious consumers when it comes to deciding on how to spend limited personal income.
And the global transformation is a complicated combination of the rapid deployment of information technology and greater access to educational opportunities for children throughout the world, along with a quickly growing recognition that every person, irrespective of where they live in this world, should have the right to improve his or her station in life. In a nutshell, the global competition that we used to talk about in macro-economic terms has become personal – has developed into one person on this side of the planet fighting for an economic opportunity against a person on the other side of the planet. The availability and transferability, the “global migration” of jobs, has become an accepted critical element in business success – jobs will simply move to the place that provides the best competitive advantage for any given company. No matter how you look at it, these are very unsettling and changing times. And in the midst of this flurry of national and international transformation, the trucking industry is confronted with its own set of very challenging questions and issues.
How do we continue to move 83 percent of the nation’s freight as measured by revenue, and 70 percent of freight as measured by tonnage, while lessening (not just holding constant) our impact on the environment? How will we travel more miles in an ever-growing, ever-more-congested country while producing a consistently improving safety record? How do we prepare for, and transition to, the new sources of energy and the new power technologies that will move our trucks while struggling with the capital investment such a transition will require? What will it take to attract a new generation of drivers who will be subject to greater scrutiny in every aspect of their performance, whether it be their backgrounds, preparation and training, or personal conduct? How can we become more efficient in the utilization of our equipment and our drivers, while upgrading the quality of service to our customers, when confronted with limitations on the routes and the time of day our vehicles may move along them?
These are just a few examples of the myriad challenging questions our industry will be expected to resolve. But the operative phrase is “challenging questions our industry will be expected to resolve,” because if we don’t proactively develop industry solutions, someone else surely will (probably someone a lot less knowledgeable about trucking and a lot more likely to come up with a bad solution). Change is difficult at any moment, but it will be especially challenging for this industry in this transformational time.
Whether you liked the outcome of the 2008 elections or not, the policy and regulatory reach of federal government into your businesses will surely increase over the next 5 to 10 years. Monday you will be struggling to understand a new OSHA requirement. Tuesday, EPA will be checking one of your facilities for some level of potential contaminates. Wednesday the FMCSA will be auditing to assure the highest level of safety. Thursday HHS will be reviewing your contagious diseases action plan – seeking assurances that contagious diseases aren’t part of any shipment you’ll be delivering. And Friday the EEOC will be conducting a survey to see that you’re not discriminating against any of your employees. The list of government agencies that now have a role in regulating your business reads like alphabet soup.
The question is not whether you’re able to adapt to this ever-more-complicated, increasingly intrusive operating environment. Your failure to do so simply means you cease to exist as a transportation enterprise. The question is “how” you’re able to deal with these myriad government mandates and still find some enjoyment in running your business, provide quality service to your customers and, heaven forbid, make enough profit to make it worth your while. Stealing a line from Will Rogers, “The trucker has to be an optimist or he wouldn’t still be trucking.”
I believe the American Trucking Associations serves as a critical partner for your successful navigation of this changing and challenging environment. Only ATA, in conjunction with our state partners, affiliate organizations, conferences and councils, has the experienced professional staff capable of keeping tabs on all the fast-moving and rapidly developing issues affecting this industry. Every day, this fine team (of just under 200 strong) is working on your behalf, and I’m proud to lead their effort. I know that the dues you’ve paid to ATA during this year were a hard check to write. But I will also tell you that you are making a wise investment because you are going to need the work of this organization more than perhaps ever before, because the political, policy and regulatory winds are not blowing in our favor.
As someone who spent many years campaigning with a political “R” after my name, you might think what I’m about to say seems a little strange. And it’s this: there is a lot to like about President Obama. The list of those things reads like a nomination for someone “most likely to succeed” – his energy and forward-looking approach to governing, his communication skills and willingness to regularly talk to the American people, his commitment to develop and deliver significant change in the policies that will shape our nation’s future, and his willingness to allow moments of simply being a “regular” guy. He’s made a career out of being easy to like.
But as we all know, it takes a lot more than that to be an effective leader. On the campaign trail President Obama made it a point to emphasize the importance of words – perhaps because he was, by far, the most accomplished speaker in the field, at one point admonishing his opponent that “words mean something.” He was right. Words do mean something. But I think Mark Twain had an even better perspective when he said, “Action speaks louder than words, but not nearly as often.” Regardless of how early and often you communicate, or the eloquence of your delivery when you do, it’s the action that matters.
One place where we certainly need action is on our nation’s infrastructure.
There is certainly nothing more basic than the assurance of a sound infrastructure. The Administration recognizes (and President Obama even acknowledged this fact during the campaign) that America’s long-term competitiveness depends on the quality of our nation’s roads and bridges. It’s a point we enthusiastically agree on. Yet when it comes time to take action, both the White House and the Democratic leadership use all their energy and time on health care reform and climate change. Now, these are two critically important issues facing our nation, but they were not nearly as time-sensitive as last week’s expiration of SAFETEA-LU, and in fact probably cry out for a “go slow” approach. So forgive me if I’m frustrated that Congress works on things that it really doesn’t need to at the moment and doesn’t work on things it really needs to.
This is where the pessimistic side of me comes out. I think it’s politically safer and easier to have grand discussions on subjects that are complex and confusing, and provide legislators with a great degree of political cover by obfuscating the impacts the policies will have on Americans, while avoiding a straightforward discussion about the need to raise the national fuel tax. Let me be very clear. The nation’s infrastructure needs are staggering. According to a report released by the American Society of Civil Engineers earlier this year, an estimated $930 billion dollars is needed over the next five years to fix highway infrastructure. Of that $930 billion, only an estimated $350 billion will be spent. That’s a shortfall of $550 billion (when you take into account the $29 billion included in the 2009 economic stimulus package).
Now, the money included in the stimulus package was a start. But I take issue with labeling it a “record investment…designed to lay the foundation for the nation’s economic future” – which were the words used to announce it – when, in fact, it fell far short of the money we needed and was such a disappointingly small fraction of the total stimulus package.
Last week, House Transportation and Infrastructure Chairman James Oberstar took a solid first step when he called for a three-month extension of the existing surface transportation law. This extension is in lieu of the 18-month extension being sought by the Administration and several prominent members of Congress. And as you probably know, no agreement was ever reached on an extension, so we are already seeing the possibility of negative financial consequences on road work being done by our State Departments of Transportation. Chairman Oberstar has done little to hide his intention of pursuing a long-term highway reauthorization bill and we are supportive of his effort. ATA has done an outstanding job of developing and communicating a list of reauthorization priorities – highlighted by calling for an emphasis on freight movement and the elimination of freight bottlenecks. And while we have made it clear that we are prepared to pay additional dollars in support of road and bridge construction, we are only interested in that possibility when our industry agenda is embraced.
Make no mistake. It won’t be an easy fight. With a Congressional backdrop that lacks the ability to build consensus and has devoted inordinate amounts of time to disagreement, we are left with a political and policy scenario in which we have a clearly defined problem – a need for more money to be spent on infrastructure – but no political will from either party or branch of government to lead on the only currently available, practical solution, which is to raise the fuel tax. With all the deficit spending that has occurred as a result of the economic downturn (the stimulus package, bailing out the financial institutions and trying to salvage the U.S. automobile industry) coupled with fighting wars on multiple fronts, along with the serious decline in revenues to both federal and state governments – there is simply no more general fund money available for infrastructure investment without raising taxes. And if we spend more general fund money, we are simply adding to the mountain of debt our government has recently run up. Stay tuned to the infrastructure debate, but do not anticipate that something is going to happen anytime soon.
Just last week, the Secretary of Transportation, Ray LaHood, convened a national summit on the issue of distracted driving. It’s an important issue – one we must address – and I’m pleased that our Safety Task Force has already developed a position on the issue, but caution everyone that many government decision makers (starting with Secretary LaHood) have a much broader and more aggressive strategy in mind than the voluntary “best practices” that our Task Force initially came up with. For many of you, this will be an early test of how willing you’ll be to figure out an industry-driven solution – a solution that may wind up being the lesser of multiple evils – but would nonetheless allow industry input into regulations that will affect our in-cab driver operations for years to come.
Many of you may be hearing this speech as a criticism of the Obama Administration and the Democratically-controlled Congress. And it’s true that I believe they are promoting a policy agenda that is too biased toward labor unions, trial lawyers and environmental activists; in short, an agenda that is bad for U.S. businesses, jobs and prosperity. That’s why the need for our advocacy efforts will be so critical during the coming years. But I am prepared to be equally critical of a Republican party that has nothing to offer but “just say no” as a response. A vibrant two-party system serves our nation well, but only if both parties are honestly engaged in offering alternatives and a willingness to compromise.
That is why I’m very proud of the efforts that ATA has made – that you’ve made collectively – to develop a proactive trucking agenda on Safety, the Environment and Infrastructure. We’ve moved past the days of “just saying no” – to a day of offering solutions to the nation’s pressing needs and leading with our chin.
Over the past three years, the members of ATA (not the professional staff) have developed a policy agenda that promotes the trucking industry and the vitality of the U.S. economy while simultaneously supporting the diverse agendas associated with sound environmental, safety and national security policies. It’s important for you to appreciate the positive agenda you’ve helped to develop and the benefits the nation could ultimately see as a result. We have taken great strides to demonstrate the essentiality of the trucking industry, while embracing more sustainable and safe methods of operation. As a part of that initiative, we have clearly identified solutions to help alleviate highway congestion, which robs us of precious driver time, forces us to unnecessarily burn fuel, minimizes the return on our investments, and causes us to miss critical delivery schedules that our business partners expect and rely on us to meet. Because of your involvement and hard work, we are well-positioned for the future.
I want to close by offering my thanks to all of you. I thank you for the opportunity to be of service to an industry that I love. I thank you for your financial support of ATA and your presence at this meeting and so many others. Thank you to the 50 state associations and their industry leadership – along with our close partners, the state association executives. A special thanks to those state associations who have made “Call on Washington” an element of our advocacy efforts that has proven to be very effective with Congressional members, and fun and educational for the visiting delegations. If your state isn’t yet participating, please give doing so some serious consideration. Thank you to our affiliated partners, the Truckload Carriers Association and the National Tank Truck Carriers. Thank you to our Chairman Shorty Whittington and his wife Ro for an outstanding year of service, a year that involved almost non-stop travel on behalf of ATA and some very pragmatic and forceful leadership during a challenging financial year. And a final thanks to the ATA staff, who I can guarantee you are working hard – very hard – on your behalf each and every day. Congratulations on surviving 2009. Best wishes for a much brighter 2010. Thank you and have a great day.
* additional photos from MC&E are available here