Trump Says Truckers Are Heroes, But Should Take A Pay Cut

Well Trump made a speech yesterday, mostly about tax reform, and the honorable mention goes to America's Truckers though Trump didn't necessarily help us a whole lot.

He started out nicely:

Nothing gets done in America without the hard working men and women of the trucking industry. Thank you so much for the job you do. When your trucks are moving, America is growing. That is why my administration has taken historic steps to remove the barriers that are slowing you down. America first means putting America's truckers first.

Thank you, that was very nice.

He also talked about how well we know this beautiful nation.

Over the decades you have also seen the disasterous consequences of economic surrender. Our politicians surrendered. They gave up our country. You have driven past the shuttered factories watched thriving communities become ghost towns and witnessed America's wealth get shipped away to foreign lands.

No one knows America like America's truckers. In our largest cities and across the rolling plains you see the incredible beauty of our natural wonders. You see things that few people see.

That is all very true. But then, well, I wish he would have stopped there. He may have overestimated how nice our jobs really are, and definitely didn't understand our current situation very well or help our future prospects when he said:

In fact I think you should take a major wage reduction you have such a beautiful thing.

Oh NO! Please don't say that. Even though you're joking, we don't think it's funny.

Why?

Well because we know how far trucker wages have dropped over the years. Maybe he wouldn't have joked about that if he had seen a chart showing the wages of American Truckers when adjusted for inflation over the years:

Yeah, not a pretty picture. But it's still a really good paying job, it's still one of the best paying blue collar jobs out there, and it's true that no other job has the amazing perks of our travelling lifestyle.

Trump also admired our spirit and called us heroes, of all things:

And we see the enduring strength of the American spirit in those same truckers.

What you see is incredible. Every day what you see are things that nobody else sees. And I want to tell you - the truckers in this room, which is a lot of people, you're gonna make more money. You're gonna do better than ever before and we truly admire you. You are our heroes, believe me, you are our heroes.

We're heroes who need a pay raise, Mr President.

Trump needs a mouth transplant. His mouth gets him in more trouble...

Thanks Mr. President. Believe it or not, I wouldn't do this job if it didn't pay well. Without a good paycheck, it's not worth the risk, the time away from home, or all the unhealthy sitting in the driver's seat.

I'm enjoying this job quite a bit right now. I hope he's right about us making more money!

Greeaaat all we need is some bum on a coporate board to see that and take him seriously.

On another note with his tax plan we should pay less in taxes.

Admittedly I haven’t read his proposal but I’ve heard rumors that he wants to eliminate our per diem deductions.

Greeaaat all we need is some bum on a coporate board to see that and take him seriously.

On another note with his tax plan we should pay less in taxes.

Admittedly I haven’t read his proposal but I’ve heard rumors that he wants to eliminate our per diem deductions.

Greeaaat all we need is some bum on a coporate board to see that and take him seriously.

On another note with his tax plan we should pay less in taxes.

That's what I heard. Eliminates deduction filing, but raises the standard deduction from 4500 to 9500 or something along those lines.

Admittedly I haven’t read his proposal but I’ve heard rumors that he wants to eliminate our per diem deductions.

Greeaaat all we need is some bum on a coporate board to see that and take him seriously.

On another note with his tax plan we should pay less in taxes.

That's what I heard. Eliminates deduction filing, but raises the standard deduction from 4500 to 9500 or something along those lines.

Standard deduction for a single individual is $6500.

Also, let's not forget that eliminating per diem will increase your taxable income and bump you up into the next tax bracket. For example, let's say you're getting $0.40 per mile, with $0.10 of that as per diem. That means 1/4 of your income isn't taxed under current tax law, but if the per diem exemption is eliminated it will be.

Also, the plan the GOP is pushing wants to reduce the number of tax brackets, which could potentially bump you up into an even higher bracket, causing you to owe even more in taxes every year.

In short, losing per diem would be financially disastrous for truckers.

Did any other president thank truckers?

I don’t know but it appears this thank you was just a window dressing. If it holds out that we are losing per diem deductions that can’t turn out good.

Did any other president thank truckers?

Losing per diem deductions isn't good, but assuming the tax reform will lower taxes, maybe it'll balance out. But chances are that he won't cut anyone's taxes by a quarter. So we'll have to wait and see (this is all by my speculation from what I've learned; as a teen, I still don't know what half of this stuff means

I learned a long time ago that just because something is in proposed legislation doesn't mean it will make it into the final bill that gets signed. The lobbyists, Dems and others will have their say on what goes into the new tax bill too. It's not like this congress has a great record of getting anything done. They may fail on tax "reform" too. Still, it is important to keep an eye on what is going on in Washington that could directly impact you.