Your taxes, your truck driver shortage.
This may be the most ludicrously malicious and negligent workforce initiative in modern American history.
Back in 2016, I remember thinking, if I hear “truck driver shortage” one more time, I’m either going to throw my computer through a window or voluntarily check myself into a facility.
…
The year is now 2025. And guess what?! I haven’t thrown my computer or checked into a facility, but the “tRuCk DriVeR sHorTaGe” is still an issue!
It has been an ‘issue’ since the 1980s. Out of all the labor problems in America, we still can’t solve this one. There’s a quote that comes to mind:
‘Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.’ —Rita Mae Brown
And no, before you protest, Albert Einstein did not say that. It is often attributed to him, but it wasn’t him. Sometime in the 80s the quote was associated with him, and much like the truck driver shortage narrative, people believe anything they hear. :)
Truth or (perpetual) dare?
In this context, dare is synonymous with lie, malice, and dishonesty.
The perpetual push of the fabricated “truck driver shortage” narrative has continued year after year after year. It is a lie repeated until it reshaped policy and public perception.
But what if there was never a real shortage?
What if this was never about a lack of truck drivers, and always about maintaining a system built on churn, cheap labor, and taxpayer-funded training programs that keep the financial river flowing?
What’s being sold as “workforce development” isn’t.
It’s a revolving door.
It is a financial scheme.
And you’re the one paying for it.
Disclaimer: I want to be very clear: I believe people deserve second chances. I think many immigrants and refugees come to America in genuine pursuit of a better life for themselves and their families. This isn’t about demonizing individuals.
What I take issue with is how the system exploits those good intentions, using hardship, poverty, and desperation as fuel for high-turnover operations, running a once-highly respected profession into the ground… All while hiding behind feel-good language and streams of government funding.
This is about exposing the machine, not attacking the people caught in it.
The CDL Pipeline, Funded by American Taxpayers
More student truck drivers = more government funding.
You see, to keep this model running, the industry needs fresh recruits. So, where do we find fresh recruits?
Young people, straight out of high school.
The latest recommendation is targeted at foster youth.
Immigrants, legal or not.
Refugees, freshly resettled.
“Justice-involved” individuals, meaning those recently released from jail or prison.
What do these groups have in common?
They all qualify for federally funded workforce development programs. The kind designed to “boost the economy” and “rebuild America.”
And what’s the solution to the truck driver shortage? Taxpayer-funded CDL schools, federal grants, and nonprofit ‘training partnerships.’
The pitch is noble, I reckon. The reality? It’s not, even in the slightest. This isn’t “workforce development.” It is the most ludicrously malicious workforce initiative in modern American history.
The previous administration poured gas on this fire, expanding funding streams and pushing “workforce development” as a fix-all. But let’s be clear, it didn’t start there. And it hasn’t stopped since.
Every new funding cycle, the same narrative gets repackaged: Help underserved communities. Strengthen the economy. Solve the truck driver shortage!!!
$38 million here.
$43 million there.
$55.1 million somewhere else.
Who cares.
Note: I won’t dive into the tragic consequences just yet. That’s coming later. First, we need to lay the groundwork. We can’t understand the fallout until you see how the system is built.
Why “free” will never work.
The trucking industry’s workforce pipeline increasingly relies on a model where individuals are paid to train, rather than investing their own money. At face value, this appears generous or pragmatic, but from a behavioral psychology standpoint, it erodes the very mechanisms that drive commitment, discipline, and long-term engagement.
Endowment Effect: Ownership enhances valuation. When people work toward a credential, especially with their own time, money, or sacrifice, they develop a sense of pride and stewardship. But when credentials are given through fast-tracked programs with little friction, that same sense of value is often absent.
Sunk cost fallacy: When individuals invest their own money or resources into a pursuit, they tend to persist, even when it gets difficult, because abandoning it feels like a waste. This is the sunk cost effect. But when the training is subsidized or entirely free, there’s no psychological loss aversion. Quitting has no meaningful consequence.
Zero Price Effect: In behavioral economics, we know “free” has a paradoxical effect: it attracts attention, but diminishes perceived value. When CDL programs are handed out with stipends or bonuses, the signal is clear. It’s not something to be earned, it’s something to be claimed. As a result, participants may engage with low psychological ownership or seriousness.
Effort Justification: According to cognitive dissonance theory, individuals often assign more value to outcomes that required significant effort. But when CDL programs are framed as “barrier-free” or “fully supported,” the psychological reward mechanism that comes from struggle and perseverance is weakened. What was once a rite of passage becomes a transaction.
Incentive Misalignment: These programs are often evaluated based on enrollment metrics rather than long-term performance or safety outcomes. But from a psychological standpoint, what attracts someone to a program does not predict how they’ll behave within it, especially when the primary draw is financial, not vocational.
Here's where your money goes.
OK. So much more could be posted here, but I think you get the idea.
It’s my money, so what do I get out of this?
You fund the perpetuation of the fabricated “truck driver shortage” narrative year after year after year. And the training through grants, tuition programs, and nonprofit “partnerships.” And underqualified drivers wreaking havoc on the highways. And the cheap labor that allows for cheap rates.
Basically, every freight complaint today? You’re funding it.
…
Unfiltered Feedback by FreightX
I’ve posted a glimpse of this taxpayer-funded CDL pipeline on social media, and it would be a disservice not to include the raw, unfiltered feedback that followed.
Someone is getting rich off this shit
Flood the system with low wage drivers and help the bottom line of the big carriers. All paid for by tax payers. What a sham!
There is no labor shortage, only a cheap labor shortage.
It odd spending over a decade trying to be the best you can. Developing skills and experience in a very dangerous profession. Then some sniveling little git, 7 years out of a PoliSci degree, employed by the FedGov writes a white paper on how someone who’s been in the country 5 minutes would do just as good as you in your job.
Taught how to get a CDL. Not taught how to drive.
Our tax dollars aiding in the great replacement of American truck drivers……smh….
Lots of anger simmering at truckstops across the fruited plain as American drivers have had it with unsafe,unqualified,foreign drivers destroying the industry and taking lives along the way.
Importing people from the 3rd world with 0 common values and no background checks will get you such stellar results.
There is no driver shortage. There are plenty of drivers just a shortage of good companies and too much regulation for the drivers that we have.
They are stealing USDOT stickers off of other trucks. I saw a video of them doing it.
please help bring attention to what has happened to the trucking industry. We are over run with cheap foreign labor, destroying American trucking jobs.
What is your plan to fix this? I hope you have one. Federal dollars going to “training” immigrants while Americans can’t get jobs. SOS
Its a systematic weaponization of the most destructive vehicles on USA roadways.
The injection of 15M foreign workers into the US jobs market that only created 5M jobs in that 2 years , with 1M of those workers being placed in transportation jobs, that’s what has depressed wages n rates to the poverty level !! That’s intentional destruction of industries!!
"At no cost to you" It's incredible what the state offers these people that they would never offer their own citizens. I went to DMACC, nobody offered me free or discounted education.
political establishment filling the country with "labour oversupply", so their crony capitalist friends benefit with higher profits off your taxdollars
Final thoughts
The research work isn’t finished here. This is just the tip of the iceberg. But I’ve seen enough to say this with confidence:
We’re not investing in successful trucking careers.
We’re funding the precious, fabricated “truck driver shortage” narrative.
Meanwhile, the truck drivers who actually care, the ones who built this industry, who’ve run generational trucking companies with pride and skill, are getting steamrolled.
We’re pushing well-respected, qualified American truck drivers out of business to make room for churn, burn, chaos, and cheap labor.
This isn’t fixing American trucking.
It’s gutting it.
And we’re all footing the bill.
If you made it this far, thank you. Truly.
Trucking has always been the backbone of America. It will continue to be the backbone of America. It deserves better. The people who built this industry deserve better. And it’s not too late. This system wasn’t built overnight, and it won’t be fixed overnight. But talking about the truth is the first step.