We will just have to see if this is sustained or if it spreads, but independent truckers have slowed down their rigs and snarled traffic in Chicago, New Jersey and Florida to protest diesel prices.

The slowdown, which has been brewing for months on sites like truckertotrucker.com, came at just about the same time five oil executives were testifying before Congress. Some freight operators refused to load trucks Tuesday, fearing the deliveries might not get made. If this continues for even a short time, in this just-in-time delivery world we live in, you will begin to see problems pretty quickly.

Diesel prices are up 117 percent compared to a year ago, according to new Energy Department figures.

Strikes in the past have done nothing to lower prices. The New York Times points out:

Every 5-cent increase in fuel prices increases a trucker’s annual expenses by about $1,000, according to the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, which on Friday asked Congress to help drivers collect more fuel surcharges.

"It's not a good time to own your own rig," said Chip White, a transportation and logistics professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology. "It's a tough life even when the economy is reasonably good."

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