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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsWord is that truckers got hit with higher taxes for 2018
The word is out that many truckers got hit with higher taxes for 2018, sometimes owing thousands of dollars instead of getting a refund. This is in part related to the removal of an exemption of a per diem expense for meals and travel expenses.
I feel for them, as I would for anyone. Some won't have the money to pay the tax bill. BUT...let's remember:
Businessman and Republican nominee Donald Trump has been elected the 45th president of the United States, defying polling numbers and securing the White House in part due to support from the trucking industry.
Not only did Trump garner broad support from truck drivers, he also secured more in financial campaign contributions from the trucking industry, whose political spending is largely made up of bigger carriers and fleet-backed lobbyists.
https://www.ccjdigital.com/trucking-industry-support-helps-propel-donald-trump-to-victory-in-2016-presidential-race/
Among the 29 states where truck driver is the most common job, all but three California, Oregon, and Vermont voted to elect Donald Trump president.
Thats an industry that may soon be decimated by automation, as self-driving vehicles are becoming more and more common.
https://www.vocativ.com/376182/trump-states-truckers-automation/index.html
With the fate of the House Republican health-care legislation hanging in the balance Thursday, President Trump turned to a group of truckers for help with moving the bill along.
Trump welcomed drivers and executives from the American Trucking Association to the White House with a little stagecraft. As he greeted them, two large trucks were parked in front of the White House. After shaking hands of ATA members positioned in front of the trucks, the president hopped into the rig of one of the 18-wheelers and tooted the horn a couple of times, then closed the door and waved to the news media through the window.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2017/03/23/trump-turns-to-truckers-for-help-in-moving-the-republican-health-care-bill/?utm_term=.7bcd97046c6a
Here he is, driving away with trucker's tax refunds in a Big Mack truck:
louis-t
(23,315 posts)it's really hard to find anything on the radio except right-wing noise, religious stations, and heavy metal and country music. I hope the hundreds of thousands of truckers in this country stop listening to right-wing noise and bring cds with them on the road. Boston, Cream, and Queen are some of my favorites.
maxsolomon
(33,473 posts)you forgot Spanish stations! lots of those out west.
Honeycombe8
(37,648 posts)Then there's radio. Do they still use CB ham radio? "Hey, good buddy..." They must have a way to communicate with each other, still.
A HERETIC I AM
(24,382 posts)Because of that stupid fucking movie Convoy, truck drivers have considered that term to be a derogatory term meaning homosexual for 40 years.
Second, CB ( Citizens Band) and Ham are two completely different types of two way radios.
Third, CB traffic is way down from where it used to be primarily because it isnt needed
And yes, trucks still have CD players but they also have USB ports on the radios so you can play your iPod or phone.
Honeycombe8
(37,648 posts)Was it painful?
"Good buddy" has a standard definition. The term has been around for many decades, and is composed of two common words that have existed for centuries. I was referring to the 1970s use of the term, when CB radios were at the height of popularity. Of COURSE, I was using the term as a throw-back to those days, and I used the correct term, which was not a derogatory word.
Citizens Band Radio Slang . the operator of a CB radio; fellow operator (often used as a form of direct address while broadcasting).
Informal . a trusted companion or colleague; friend.
Dictionary.com
Wikipedia:
The slang itself is not only cyclical, but also geographical. Through time, certain terms are added or dropped as attitudes toward it change. For example, in the early days of the CB radio, the term "Good Buddy" was widely used.[2]
-and-
"Good buddy" now has an urban dictionary meaning, created by some urbanites. But here in the south, "good buddy" means what it always has. An out of style way to refer to another trucker using a CB radio.
Don't know why you're going on about ham radios, since I didn't mention those at all. A hobby of yours?
Now you've been woman-splained the ins and outs of language. (and yes..."ins and outs" also has an urban dictionary meaning, which has no effect on the real meaning)
When I get a new car, I'll have to buy a good portable CD player, I guess. I don't use mp3 players and such. I'm too old to start over with a new format of music. I've already done it several times...vinyl to 8 tracks to cassettes to CDs. I have too much money invested in CDs. Maybe getting a CD player is an option.
A HERETIC I AM
(24,382 posts)Or did you spend your entire career driving tractor trailers and using a CB in the only county in the country where calling another truck driver a Good Buddy is NOT considered an insult?
So....was it flat or van? If flat, step? Skateboard? Drop? Low boy? Gooseneck? Or were you in the Parking Lots? Lift gate? Or tanks? Smooth bore or baffled? Maybe you did wiggle wagons? Bed bugger? Bulk? Coal bucket? If van, dry? Reefer perhaps. Or was it Hot shots? Did you stay on the big roads or were you most often running through the woods? Being as well versed in trucker vernacular as you clearly are, Im sure you know precisely what each and every one of those terms refers to without the need to Google them.
You said:
Which is, for such a short statement, loaded with ignorance.
Using that expression in an off hand way as you did is tantamount to calling a complete stranger a Faggot. THATS WHAT IT MEANS. Referring to the 1970s use of the term means you are clueless as to how the term has evolved and is currently used, PERIOD. It wasnt a derogatory term until the movie Convoy came out and the popularity of CBs soared. Then every schmuck with a radio in their car thought they were The Rubber Duck and the rest of the industry got sick of it. It took all of 6 months for the meaning to universally change. Using that saying in the way you did, without proper context, displays an understanding of Trucking culture and CB slang as deep as a mud puddle.
Citizens Band Radio Slang . the operator of a CB radio; fellow operator (often used as a form of direct address while broadcasting).
Informal . a trusted companion or colleague; friend.
Except thats not what it means to every truck driver in the country older than 45, which is the vast majority of them.
Wikipedia:
CB slang is the distinctive anti-language, argot or cant which developed among users of Citizens Band radio (CB), especially truck drivers in the United States during the 1970s and early 1980s.[1]
The slang itself is not only cyclical, but also geographical. Through time, certain terms are added or dropped as attitudes toward it change. For example, in the early days of the CB radio, the term "Good Buddy" was widely used.[2]
That is not only selective editing, it is inaccurate and shows you didnt really do the research.
Googleling the term Good Buddy gives a shitload of results that clearly explain that it is most assuredly a pejorative.
Yeah. In the seventies.. Do you often make references to disco as if it is common or something that everyone regularly participates in?
Keyword out of style. Yeah. No shit. By at LEAST 30 years. 23 Skidoo and all.
Actually, you DID mention those, as I highlited above;
Do they still use CB ham radio?
There is no such thing as a CB Ham Radio. CB and Ham are 2 different radio types, using different frequencies. A Ham radio can call around the planet, basically. A legal (unmodified) Citizens Band will barely reach 5 miles. If you want to sound like you know what youre talking about, at least try and get some understanding of the subject matter.
I took issue with this because I, like millions of other professional drivers, are sick and fucking tired of people thinking that throwing around the term Good Buddy makes them sound as if they are in the know, when all it does is display a profound ignorance of the industry and culture shared by over 4 million of your fellow Americans.
If you still think Im wrong, and that the term is harmless, go to any large truck stop, get on a CB and ask Are there any good buddies around?
Try it. I dare you. Youll get an earful you wont soon forget.
Honeycombe8
(37,648 posts)You might want to take a step back to see why you are so invested in a harmless, non-provocative, humorous, friendly post on a forum.
Here's hoping you make some progress. Good luck.
A HERETIC I AM
(24,382 posts)Last edited Mon Jun 15, 2020, 01:21 PM - Edit history (1)
There was nothing humorous about your post in the least. NOTHING. And it wasnt correct at all, nor was it harmless or non provocative. It demonstrates an ignorant attitude toward current vernacular.
Do you think you are talking to some wet behind the ears neophyte? Madam, Ive been a truck driver for over 30 years and have had Citizens Band Radios since the 70s. I know what the fuck Im talking about and I am not about to be corrected by someone who doesnt know the difference between a steering wheel and a fifth wheel.
The expression Good Buddy when used in the context of, or directed at truck drivers IS AN INSULT. The is ZERO evidence, anecdotal or otherwise to suggest you are correct when you insist it is innocuous.
There are plenty of words and phrases that evolve to the point of falling out of favor or are otherwise currently regarded as insulting or insensitive. Retard is a perfect example. I can say that the brakes on my truck retard its forward movement but it is not acceptable for me to say that the guy who adjusted them is a retard.
Get it?
People think that good buddy is acceptable when talking about trucking and truck drivers because of ONE SINGLE STUPID MOVIE that came out in 1978 that had as its inspiration a song that was a hit 3 years earlier.
When you throw that out casually as you have done in an attempt to sound cute or cool or in the know, as if you have some special insight into the trucking industry, you are demonstrating just how much you are NONE of those things.
Again, Google the term and you will see that the vast majority of results you will get indicate the term has had its meaning changed over time and it presently means you are calling someone you dont know a homosexual, and within the trucking industry it has had that meaning since at least the early 80s.
Im constantly amazed at how many DUers REFUSE to admit theyre wrong when presented with facts.
Honeycombe8
(37,648 posts)I suggest you do the same.
I'm not going to be sucked down into the hole with you.
A HERETIC I AM
(24,382 posts)It DOES matter that you are using a term that millions find insulting yet refuse to acknowledge it
Hortensis
(58,785 posts)They so deserve it.
Mariana
(14,863 posts)Why is it considered insulting? What does it imply about truck drivers that makes it a slur?
A HERETIC I AM
(24,382 posts)Last edited Mon Jun 15, 2020, 01:25 PM - Edit history (1)
Is that it was sort of a case of familiarity breeds contempt
Back in the late 70s when the popularity of CBs was booming among the general public, the Breaker Channel - ch 19 - became overwhelmed with traffic, The rise in number of radios in use can be traced to the change in the national speed limit to 55 in 1973. Prior to that, Truck Drivers pretty much had the CB radio to themselves.
The term Good Buddy was fairly common parlance back then but with the new and overwhelming number of radio users, the term began to be co-opted by the 4 wheelers to the point of annoyance.
Side note; The traffic on channel 19 got so heavy that in California, the drivers switched to channels 17 and 15 as their breaker channels in order to get away from the madness 19 had become.
Where and exactly why and by whom the change began is anyones guess, but the flash point was the movie Convoy as I said before. EVERYBODY in a car thought they were Kris Kristofferson driving a black Mack with a duck hood ornament! Good Buddy became so overused that a response from a trucker to a car driver asking for information (where the cops are, etc.) would end up being acrimonious. Good Buddy? I aint your god damned good buddy, pal etc. etc.
As a way of easily distinguishing between fellow truckers and the general public, the word took on the new meaning Ive discussed.
Now...some points should be made;
Is it homophobic? Well, yeah, I suppose it is, although I agree with the point made by I think Morgan Freeman who said that it isnt really a phobia - these people arent afraid of homosexuals, theyre just bigoted assholes.
But trucking is a male dominated industry and always has been and as such, has a macho image, of this there can be no doubt. Also, you dont need an advanced degree to drive a truck so this isnt the most well educated demographic in the country. A certain amount of ignorance and bigotry in this regard must be expected.
So having this large group of individuals, who now feel as if a slice of their space was being overrun by unwanted and unwelcome outsiders, begin to associate an annoying car driver calling them Good Buddy, in other words, being unduly familiar, to being gay was a very short step.
It just morphed into this connotation because its usage among truck drivers tailed off dramatically and as such, anyone using that term was immediately identifiable as outside the group.
Does that make sense?
Again, it is now and has been for years, a slur, a pejorative, an insult. Having someone who is not a trucker, say 10-4, good buddy is taken by truckers as basically saying Ok, you faggot. Thats just its meaning these days and thats not going to change. As I said in one of my other responses, if you dont believe me, just go to a large truck stop on a night its packed to the gills, get on a CB and ask Are there any Good Buddys here tonight?
You will quickly see Im not making any of this up.
ONE LAST THING;
It might seem strange to some, and clearly to the person I had the exchange with earlier, why I would get so defensive or worked up over what many obviously see as a harmless phrase.
Heres why;
Because it comes from a really stupid place, was overused to the point of annoyance and now means something else. The fact that people still use it as if it doesnt mean what it means, indicates they got their information on the culture of trucking from a horribly badly written movie that ridiculously exaggerated what truckers do and how they conduct themselves, that came out in 1978, and those people seemed to stop learning about the culture right there and then!! Its fucking stupid and people need to learn its stupid, and it means something else now. Like I said, no one reading this would likely call an African American person Colored yet that term was very commonly used by white people when they talked about black people about the time the CB boom started.
Words evolve. This term means something else now, and people should stop using it as if it didnt.
I hope what I have written helps clear up any misunderstanding.
I apologize for the delay in responding, but I am on a trip right now, and my co-driver and I just switched 25 minutes ago.
So...time for bed for me..
Lordquinton
(7,886 posts)When you find out from a primary source that a word or phrase you are using I'm just is actually a slit, you should listen, take in the new information and move on.
It's the other guys who say "it's just a joke" when they are told they are actually hurting people.
Honeycombe8
(37,648 posts)Read his post. He went on and on about all my incorrect usage of "CB," and other things.
And yes...it is correct to use a term, in the context I used it in, for the way it was used then. Especially since that is the definition of it.
My point being...he spent about an hour doing a looooong post about a non-provocative, friendly, post.
I suspect if I were male, he wouldn't have felt the need to "explain" things to me. For a small, inconsequential, friendly, humorous post.
Lordquinton
(7,886 posts)He is a trucker in the south, so he knows what he is talking about. You are repeatedly insulting him in this thread and telling him to get over it. He told you what it means to truckers, and you are just insisting on doubling down.
Step back, learn from this moment.
A HERETIC I AM
(24,382 posts)Because that is a perfect example of how words evolve.
Thanks, LQ
Arazi
(6,829 posts)SlogginThroughIt
(1,977 posts)And all you had to say was something like: Wow I didnt realize that. Thanks for the update. Instead you are trying to say that your humor should be respected above what this guy is telling you that you are using a disparaging saying.... whether you it or not.
TeamPooka
(24,303 posts)A HERETIC I AM
(24,382 posts)But that doesnt change the point I was making.
Wellstone ruled
(34,661 posts)up to their ears.
This is not going to play out well at all for these Folks.
Most are hard core Trumpers and they were warned of these changes.
Honeycombe8
(37,648 posts)I'd bet money on it. Will the truckers and others believe them? I guess we'll see how sucked into the cult they are.
Wellstone ruled
(34,661 posts)is more Drivers will be forced to walk away and end up on the streets.
Tax Rules will not change anytime soon. Once a proposed change is offered,McConnell will never let it see the light of day.
This is the Wet Kiss the Heritage Foundation has wanted since the days of Bill Buckley.
Honeycombe8
(37,648 posts)Hortensis
(58,785 posts)in short order. The technology and corporate will are there, it's just a matter of implementing. Hopefully this little betrayal of ALL of us will be a wakeup call for some. It's not them against us and vice versa.
Wellstone ruled
(34,661 posts)Mega Trucking companies in the next few years. The Turn over rate caused by management by decention Management and Wage theft is taking it's toll. The big killer is theft of layover pay and their Accounting Departments not keeping their Drivers up dated on changing Tax Rules.
Hortensis
(58,785 posts)slowly driving employees out of their lines of work, knowing that many will have to leave but that many others will hang in to be exploited for various reasons until their employers call an end and kick them out.
Wellstone ruled
(34,661 posts)might make 45-50k. Talking Non Union OTR Drivers working 70 hours depending on their breaks in service during their driving day. Yes there are exceptions,and they are few and far between .
Hortensis
(58,785 posts)unexplained reason tried become a truck driver. They assigned him to driving logging trucks over narrow, winding roads in the mountains separating the LA basin from the desert, and he was terrified because he was nowhere near skilled enough for that kind of thing, forget being able to tear along fast enough to make a modest income at it.
Wellstone ruled
(34,661 posts)Driving jobs in the World. But,there are Folks who just love Jockeying those brutes day in and day out. Known to many who fell for the "big promise of mega dollars" only to end up broke and homeless.
TeamPooka
(24,303 posts)we will fix it for everyone, not just one special interest group.
Tax the Rich!
Honeycombe8
(37,648 posts)Just my guess.
How they explain the increases in a bill that supposedly cut taxes for everyone, will be interesting. It fell through the cracks?
TeamPooka
(24,303 posts)it's a lose lose for them now.
They can't promise to fix that thing people hate because they did it and they can't remind the voters about it.
Honeycombe8
(37,648 posts)dalton99a
(81,708 posts)smirkymonkey
(63,221 posts)What a psycho! Just look at him! WTF is wrong with that guy?
Honeycombe8
(37,648 posts)There were a bunch of truckers & trucker owners/managers there. Trump is a P T Barnum guy. He's all about puttin' on a show.
JustAnotherGen
(32,046 posts)I don't care - seriously.
When a teacher and an accountant in NJ living in a very modest home can get their SALT deduction back - that's when I'll care.
Seriously - folks in my community - active in our Borough and State Campaigns this year . . . this is one couple who is reeling.
I don't know any truckers, they did it, they deserve it - not Jay and Nicole.
Honeycombe8
(37,648 posts)since Democrats live in the highest property tax states. But then I thought...well, not JUST Democrats. All parties, and independents, live in those states, too. And lost the full SALT deduction.
(At least, I think it was McConnell who made a comment about that. It was one of them.)
Response to Honeycombe8 (Original post)
sfwriter This message was self-deleted by its author.
Honeycombe8
(37,648 posts)but I'm afraid to ask. I don't see him often, and I avoid politics with the Trumpers. Still, I wonder if his taxes went up.
Response to Honeycombe8 (Reply #29)
sfwriter This message was self-deleted by its author.
MaryMagdaline
(6,859 posts)donkeypoofed
(2,187 posts)They're unapologetic for their vote so not many people care what happens to them now.
Blue Owl
(50,595 posts)n/t
RB TexLa
(17,003 posts)Time to move on and advance.
A HERETIC I AM
(24,382 posts)Glad to know you hope for my financial ruin
oasis
(49,490 posts)RB TexLa
(17,003 posts)trucks?
Lowering the cost of shipping for ..... everything. And freeing capital and labor for other things? That would be how you make sure you never move forward.
It would be like saying we should not have developed tractors to work farms because there were people who's jobs depended on the horses being used for that work.
ProfessorGAC
(65,427 posts)Freeing capital and labor for other things?
The capital would BE the self-driving steps, and what other things for the freed up labor?
What is the secondary skill set all such people who chose driving a truck?
It seems a very broad assumption that freeing up labor will work out just fine at either the micro or macro state.
alphafemale
(18,497 posts)Most truckers are not employers but independent contractors and while they make what looks like a great paycheck for a single haul.
They have to pay all their federal/state/SSI out of that.
Fuel/meals/maintenance.
A HERETIC I AM
(24,382 posts)The vast majority of truckers in this country are company drivers, not independent contractors
Dont know where you got your information but a quick search will clear it up for you.
The amount of misinformation on this thread is startling
alphafemale
(18,497 posts)But generally a trucker is going to be paid by the job.
If you can do two loads in one day - for six days to the point of exhaustion.
And your SSI and all those other taxes are not taken out in that cash or check you are handed.
The rent needs paid and you need groceries and diapers.
Tax time seems a long way away.
A HERETIC I AM
(24,382 posts)Not by the job
Also, the vast majority are working under a W-4, NOT a 1099, so taxes and SS are taken out of their pay.
I have no idea where you got your information or the notion that most drivers have to pay for
All the items you listed, but whatever the source, it has left you laboring under a massive misconception.
Honeycombe8
(37,648 posts)I would have thought they would have checked on that beforehand, or someone would have told them. They seem to have been caught by surprise.