Bob McCarty Writes

Six weeks ago, Dan Little spearheaded a nationwide truckers shutdown which took place April 1 as a means of drawing attention to the poor economic plight of independent truckers and trucking companies. Today, the owner of a Carrollton, Mo., cattle-hauling operation finds himself in a new position representing the interests of truckers from across the country as CEO of Owner-Operators United.

OOU is a new nonprofit organization Little and his fellow truckers formed after realizing no existing organizations were set up to meet their needs.

Little outlined some of the issues facing truckers during a recent interview with CNN’s Reggie Aqui. Among the issues he highlighted was the combined impact of rising fuel prices and excessive fuel taxes.

Little told Aqui that, during the first quarter of 2008, he estimated that 925 trucking companies had gone out of business. Related to that, he said, some 42,000 trucks had been sidelined and more than 51,000 drivers put out of work. Others, secretaries, mechanics and dispatchers lost jobs and other businesses that serve truckers have felt the impact as well.

On the subject of the federal gas tax holiday that’s been the subject of heated debate between the three remaining presidential candidates, Little disputed one candidate’s claim that the money that would be lost to the government during such a holiday was needed to pay for road maintenance and related costs.

Toward the end of the interview, Little asked a rhetorical question that, no doubt, has crossed the minds of many truckers in recent weeks: “If our government can go in on a Saturday afternoon and bail out Bear Stearns to save Wall Street, why would they not seriously be looking at the trucking industry — the only industry in this country that can turn this country off with the turn of a key?”

To watch the interview, click here or click on the photo at the top of this page.