Well, my paychecks were good. Neat trick with zero cash.
I think you may have made another “typo”. Being bankrupt is a legal condition, not a financial condition. You’re not bankrupt until a judge says you’re bankrupt.
You might be insolvent, might not be able to pay your bills, but you can’t be bankrupt until “The Man” says so. As I said, the ICG never missed a payroll and never went to bankruptcy court. So I guess “technically” we were a going concern.
Boy we fought it hard. We ran what I considered to be the best intermodal operation in the country. We went head to head with truckers between Chicago and St. Louis. Our longest realistic haul was 900 miles - and there wasn’t much of that.
But we never missed a payroll and, unlike the Milwaukee Road, we never tucked our tails between our legs and went to court for protection from our creditors.
Supply and demand is quite simple in the case of Montana.
There is a demand for transportation services (grain) and very little supply (rail service). Perhaps I put it into too simple of terms to understand, but when there is an abundance of competition (supply of services) the prices will find equilibrium by falling. Happens all the time.
It happens everytime Southwest Airlines opens a new market. It happens every time a drug goes generic.
As far as getting a rise out of you…dont think so. I simply responded to your prior statement. I really dont feel the need to attempt to get under anyone’s skin. I would like an explanation, tho on the difference between regulated and unregulated business.
Bob Wilcox…glad you understood what I had to say about the logistics management aspect. After I wrote it and was driving around to customers, I realized that a logistics company would probably be better equipped to handle this rather than an ADM or Cargil. They have their hands full right now.
Wow, imagine UPS Logistics getting ahold of that Montana grain and leveraging it with the high paying intermodal stuff! At the standard 40% of freight savings, someone would be happy at UPS. Of course the folks in Montana would probably be wanting to tax UPS.
Well, these are just little “cute” sessions for you aren’ they?
Management experts point out that as many businesses fail from being unable to handle business growth, as from lack of business. This occurs when actual growth exceeds self sustainable growth and the company is unable to finance the additional growth. Oddly enough, the standard business model where this occurs almost exactly describes the Milwaukee Road during a period when American Class I’s uniformly had difficulty finding outside financing. If the actual growth equals or is less than the SSG, there is little risk of failure due to lack of outside financing. Pretty standard finance stuff.
Do you actually know Milwaukee’s business, and the revenue and carloadings, 1970-1977? Or just shooting off your mouth as usual on something that you clearly don’t know anything about? I have sitting here the Milwaukee Road Station Revenue and Carloading Reports for those years. Want to challenge what they contain? Or is this another hot air attack?
Congestion. Lengthened cycle times. Too much demand. Not enough capacity (supply). Prices continue to go down for 20 years. Doesn’t matter how you define “competition” – that’s a different concept than “supply.” I understand supply and demand just fine. It’s the way you define it, contrary to how any economist would define it, that is just bizarre, Orwellian.
Bankruptcy. And the last time you appeared in a federal co
“Supply” and “competition”, for good reasons, are not the same word.
Well, this is getting ridiculous. The definition you offer makes no allowance for regulated rates prior to Staggers, and argues that the process of rate making is exactly the same as post-Staggers.
A statistical analysis shows a considerable difference in the effect of mileage on the rate under regulation as compared to deregulation. Why that might have become a controversial observation to a couple of individuals is a mystery I care little about since the facts speak for themselves.
However, since you define the process of rate-making as independent of regulation, there is no point in continuing the conversation. I have no reason based on other exchanges to think you actually believe that, but since you are now offering the idea that rate deregulation had no effect on how rates are actually set, the topic need not include me any more, since I have nothing to offer on that unusual premise.
Well the “statistical analysis” would likely show such a difference. There’s no reason, other that stupid, ignorant, government regulaton, to base a freight rate on mileage. There are a lot of other factors to be considered.
Staggers made it easier to “comply with the market”, which you have to do, rather than “comply with the regulations”
Well, negotiating here is the operant wording. In Montana, there is no negotiation of the rates with the farmers. BNSF sets the rate and the farmers can either take it or leave it. End of negotiations. Yes, Cargill, Conagra and Pillsbury have better rates than what the independent or co-operative elevator operators have.
Remember, let the free market determine rates via head to head competition among railroad service providers, and the farmers/utilities/manufacturers/producers will have no reason to complain to the feds.