Diesel hit $6.31 per gallon on Wednesday. Transport companies called this "alarming." They move everything you own, eat, and pretend to need. Without them, grocery stores become empty rooms where you fight strangers for the last can of beans.
The backbone of the economy runs on a fuel that just became unaffordable. That's the headline. The actual story is that everyone pretending to day-trade energy futures on their phone has no idea what diesel costs because they've never driven anything larger than a Prius to Whole Foods.
Transport companies haul 72% of all freight tonnage in America. Trains do the rest. Both use diesel. Both now pay record prices to move your Amazon orders and organic kale. The margins were already thin. Now they're translucent. But sure, keep buying calls on tech stocks because some guy with a Discord channel said the market only goes up.
Here's what happens next. Shipping costs rise. Product prices rise. Your grocery bill rises. You blame inflation like it's a person. You tweet about the Federal Reserve. You learn nothing. Transport companies either eat the cost and go bankrupt or pass it to you and watch you complain on social media about capitalism while ordering another foam roller you'll use twice.
Diesel at $6.31 means every truck on the road is burning money faster than your portfolio during earnings season. The difference is trucks actually deliver value.
You thought gas was expensive. Diesel costs more and moves the entire supply chain. But you were busy buying the dip on a company that sells pictures of cartoon apes, so you missed it.
The backbone of the economy is breaking. Your technical analysis says nothing about fuel costs. Never did. Never will. Enjoy your ramen. A truck brought it.
Photo by Richard Bell on Unsplash
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