alison, thank you for that, so a severe drought not seen since the 1980s is suffocating america s most important trade water way right at the peak harvest time. before-and-after photos really expose how dramatic the falling water level in the mississippi river has become. yes, that s not a desert. that s the mississippi river. according to the washington post, it s reveals a century s old shipwreck and made it easy to reach the tower island in missouri. and scavengers are finding everything from discarded grills to sunglasses on the dry river bed. 580 million tons of freight move along the mississippi every year, and according to the army corps of engineers, that s more than $400 billion in value. transport along the mississippi accounts for 92% of our nation s
You know, the 90,000 plus workers you mentioned, they do all sorts of things to make the freight move. it s these guys that operate the trains. take a look at these numbers, sandra. the railroads have reduced their workforce by about a third. about 29% over the last six years, 45,000 layoffs. the folks that are operating the trains, they say, have to work much harder, longer hours, not a lot of time off, on call all the time, that s the sticking point. the money is actually pretty good. take a look at the contract offer right now with the presidential emergency board put out there, retro pay raises of 24% over the past over the next five years, cash bonuses, half of the unions have already approved that, maybe even more than that now. but it s the guys that are working the long hours that are really putting the fly in the ointment on this. stocks today, positive note, may be a little bit up, may be some