Three weeks until our great reprieve, election day. Of course if you
listen to either major candidate it may not be a reprieve at all if they aren’t
elected, but rather a nudge off the precipice into the eternal abyss of federal
dysfunction, horrific national security concerns and faltering economy… Oh
wait, we’re there already. But at least after the pundits wind down about what
did or didn’t work with the campaigns we can get on with our lives without the
constant drone of fear-mongering (both parties) abrading our ears. I carry
enough innate anxiety on my own, I don’t need someone else pouring fuel on my
Xanax fire.
Regardless of the outcome of this election, the good thing is we are a
resilient people, and at least for a while we should be looking at fairly calm
waters. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t see anyone coming out of this election
happy. Somehow, with uncanny accuracy, we picked two people with way too much
baggage for even the most resolute partisans to walk away truly content. In the
back of the average person’s mind are a bunch of “what if’s”, but right now we
only hear those questions channeled toward the opposition, and so perhaps
mercifully we haven’t yet given our questions voice in our conscious mind.
But back to the good news! The world won’t end on January 20th,
whoever takes the oath, unless it was ending anyway. So I find myself
pondering, what will the new administration bring? How will it impact life?
Just how did the Deep Thought computer come up with 42? But narrowing that
topically, how will this impact the fleet profession, the automotive world we
work in. So let’s stare into the waters and see if we can decipher our future!
Thought #1. We are in deep, really deep on some technology, so there is
no turning back:
Autonomous cars are becoming feasible, electric cars are improving,
ride-sharing is evolving and mass-transit solutions are diversifying.
Regardless the environmental push asserted (or not) over the next term or two,
way too many people have skin in the game to just let this stuff die now. I
honestly don’t know how many American folks take a hard-line environmental
stance these days, but I do know there is more environmental awareness than I’ve
ever seen in all my years until now. Even if those interests don’t steer
legislation, financial interests will. With that much money invested in these
technologies, don’t fight it… Roll with it. That train keep a comin’.
Thought #2. Highway safety mandates will continue to blossom:
Domestic highways run consistently faster, with cars that do so with
more ease, than ever in automotive history. But while the cars are absolutely
the safest we’ve ever made them, we continue to have stunning fatalities and
crippling accidents. Growing up driving in the mid-late 1970’s I had a number
of cars that would cap 3 digits, but all required 2-hands on the wheel and at
least some concentration once the speedometer needle hovered up there, and none
ever did it on crowded highway either. But sanity and fear may not exist anymore.
Now I see folks doing 90+ MPH fly-by’s staring at their smartphone.
Thought #3. We will again see fuel-price volatility:
How am I so certain? Again, the mighty dollar. The OPEC folks won’t keep
the throttle wide-open on their crude production forever, but since they have
this long, producers here have once again curtailed production. When the
mid-east curtails, our own producers can’t respond quickly to void, and so the
prices will go up (perhaps violently). This dynamic could take some time, or be
more immediate if exacerbated by international response to our own new
administration, but I am pretty convinced we will see more up and down as long
as petroleum is our principal drink of choice.
I have many (many) more observations, but then you do too. I was just
looking to prime the pump.
© 2016 D.W. Williams
