The good news is that Joe Biden apparently used to drive an 18-wheeler back when he was hanging out with Corn Pop, so this should be an easy fix for him.
Check it out:
Yeah, that's a CNN story.
Even they are having to admit some of the breakdown that's occurring across the economy right now.
The trucking industry is short 80,000 drivers, a record high, Chris Spear, President and CEO of the American Trucking Associations, tells CNN.
That's a 30% increase from before the pandemic, when the industry already faced a labor shortage of 61,500 drivers.
"That's a pretty big spike," Spear added. Many drivers are retiring, dropping out of the industry. Increased consumer demand, prompting a need for more drivers, also plays a big role in the shortfall.
Oh, and the problem is only going to get worse.
If nothing is done, the latest figures put the industry on track for a shortage of 160,000 drivers by 2030, and the need for 1,000,000 new drivers over the next ten years, according to the American Trucking Associations.
CNN says the solution could be found if the government only spends another $3.5 trillion.
How, you ask?
By letting 18-year-olds drive big rigs from coast to coast!
That would allow 3,000 drivers between the ages of 18-20 to undergoing training, permitting them to drive tractor-trailers across state lines. Currently, drivers must be 21 to do so.
Spear believes younger drivers are the key answer to the labor shortage.
The White House is also toying with the idea of using the National Guard to solve the problem, because THAT wouldn't be a mess that would only make things worse.
Meanwhile, MSNBC is over here ecstatic about the diversity in trucking schools, as if they thought all truckers were MAGA-hat-wearing white supremacists or something.
This is also a problem in Europe:
This could be solved by letting the free market sort itself out – by letting businesses renegotiate wages, by analyzing the tide of inflation that's coming and increasing needed costs to the consumer, and by creating new incentives and partnerships.
Let's not forget that these shortages are caused in large part by bad public policy where the government has tried to play God in the market.
