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[quote user="Railway Man"][quote user="Bucyrus"] Assuming that "end of the road" means going out of business because of high fuel cost, I don't see that result.  In fact the premise strikes me as a failure to understand economics.  I don't doubt that rising fuel costs introduces complications and instability to the trucking business, but in the end, won't they just pass the cost increase along to the consumer?  The fuel price increase falls on all trucking uniformly, so it does not create a competitive disparity between trucking companies.  And we all need what trucks do unless we can substitute a lower cost form of what they do.  At the very margin, we may be able to substitute railroads, but I doubt railroads could take over very much of what trucks do.When fuel rises, my trash hauler raises my rate and explains that it is due to increased cost of fuel.  They don't say anything about quitting the trash hauling business.     [/quote]Costs are passed on as long as the consumer is willing to pay.  Eventually the consumer (1) buys less of whatever it is; (2) substitutes a different product to fill the need which has lower included transportation charges; (3) substitutes from a different source which has lower included transportation charges; (4) runs out of cash altogether and quits buying anything.Some consumer needs are fairly inelastic and the consumer will absorb significantly higher prices: energy, health care, groceries, and transportation to and from the job are very inelastic.  Some consumer purchase patterns are highly elastic: newer and bigger houses, new cars, new TV sets, dinners out, vacations, etc.  Most of these have a significant trucking cost built in.  When people quit trying to upgrade their houses, the construction business dives, the trucking that supported it stops, and the people who were engaged in that trucking business see if they can move into some other trucking line and engage in price competition with the established operations in order to attract the business.  High-cost operations are driven out of business, those with poor cash flow are starved out, and many people who remain find that profit margins or wages are so low that they can do better working at a 7-11, or just quit working altogether and live off their spouse's salary or whatever pension they might have from the military or some other prior occupation. RWM [/quote]RWM,I posted the previous before seeing your post here so I have inadvertently duplicated some of what you have said.  I think you have detailed the scenario well.
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