[bert]

I’ll catch flak but.....

Interstate 81 economic indicator:

Based on wall to wall right lane tractor trailer traffic on both the north bound and south bound sides of I 81 in South West Virginia, there is tremendous economic activity represented by all those trucks hauling all that stuff.

Business is good. The I 81 is crowded by trucks from all over the country moving a tremendous volume of cargo from sellers to buyers.

[Wallace T.]

Interstate 81 is the alternate East Coast corridor which trucks heavily use because Interstate 95 is too crowded with personal vehicles and travels through all the large East Coast cities from Richmond to Boston. While the heavy truck traffic is a good sign, remember that the interstate highway system was built for a country with half the current population. The environmental movement and the not in my backyard crowd have prevented a needed expansion of the interstate highway system. Combined with the inability of state transportation departments widen the interstates or to build alternate highways, the interstate system necessarily becomes overcrowded. Alternate highways have not been done, for example, it would be easy to upgrade US 301 to a freeway thereby bypassing the Washington DC area through Maryland and Virginia. But the political will to do so has been lacking.

[Justa]

The article discusses excessive gov borrowing and credit worthyness of the USG. Keywords: hyper inflation, hyper taxation, debt default, economic collapse. Argentina, Venezuela and now Columbia come to mind.

Get a passport and use geographic arbitrage

[who knows what evil?]

I’m not buying squat. Having said that, you are right...travel on truck-infested I-81 is a risky venture...especially with all those new drivers walking over the border.

[GaltAdonis]

"...there is tremendous economic activity represented by all those trucks hauling all that stuff."

.

Okay.
But let's wait and see what it looks like after the Christmas season in over.

[MeneMeneTekelUpharsin]

You are correct. Whenever there is a true economic downturn, the trucks almost disappear.

[central_va]

there is tremendous economic activity represented by all those trucks hauling all that stuff Made in China and elsewhere overseas which in the long run, is not sustainable.

Fixed it.