Ty Pence looks for an open teammate to pass the ball during St. Joseph-Ogden's 2020 Toyota of Danville Classic game against LaSalette. After a pandemic hiatus in 2020, the eight-team tourney returns starting on November 30. Photo: PhotoNews Media/Clark Brooks
Formerly known as The Leader Classic, the annual Toyota of Danville Classic boys basketball tournament will tipoff at 5pm on November 30 with the opening game between Schlarman and Oakwood. This year's eight teams include Georgetown Ridge-Farm, Watseka, La Salette, and Arthur-Lovington-Atwood-Hammond in Pool A. Pool B teams include Cissna Park, Schlarman and Oakwood, along with the hosts and the 2019 champions, St. Joseph-Ogden. St. Joseph-Ogden will play their first game on Tuesday, November 30 at 8pm and face Oakwood 24 hours later on December 1. The team will play their final pool game on Friday at 8pm against Schlarman. Admission fees for this year's tournament are $4 for adults and $3 for students. Tickets will be available at the ticket booth at the main entrance before each game.
2021 Toyota of Danville Classic
Tuesday, 11/30/21:
5:00 PM: Danville Schlarman vs. Oakwood
6:30 PM: LaSalette vs. Arthur-Lovington-Atwood-Hammond
8:00 PM: Cissna Park vs. SJO Wednesday, 12/1/21:
5:00 PM: Danville Schlarman vs. Cissna Park
6:30 PM: Watseka vs. Georgetown Ridge-Farm
8:00 PM: Oakwood vs. SJO Thursday, 12/2/21:
5:00 PM: Georgetown Ridge Farm vs. LaSalette
6:30 PM: Arthur-Lovington-Atwood-Hammond vs. Watseka
8:00 PM: Cissna Park vs. Oakwood Friday, 12/3/21:
5:00 PM: Arthur-Lovington-Atwood-Hammond vs. Georgetown Ridge Farm
6:30 PM: LaSalette vs. Watseka
8:00 PM: SJO vs. Danville Schlarman Saturday, 12/4/21:
1:00 PM: 7th Place Game
2:30 PM: 5th Place Game
4:00 PM: 3rd Place Game
5:30 PM: 1st Place Game
Cargo ships waiting to unload at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach California could keep some of America’s store shelves bare for a while. These two ports handle the bulk of cargo coming from China. Cargo keeps coming from China, making the congestion craziness only worse. The dozens of ships floating in the pacific are carrying products that used to be some of America’s good paying jobs.
Today, about 90% of non-bulk cargo worldwide is transported by container. Modern container ships carry over 21,000 TEUs and rival crude oil tankers as the largest commercial vessels on the ocean. A TEU (twenty-foot equivalent unit) is a measure of volume in units of twenty-foot-long containers. If you have ever seen any of these cargo ships come into the port at Savannah, Georgia, or these California ports then you know its mind blowing the amount of cargo stacked and transported across the ocean. The weight of the cargo is estimated between 15,000 to 18,000 tons on most of the ships.
General cargo vessels carry packaged items like chemicals, foods, furniture, machinery, motor vehicles, shoes, clothing and more. Dry bulk carriers carry coal, grain, ore and other similar products. Reefer ships are refrigerated ships which specifically carry perishable commodities such as fruits, vegetables, meats and dairy products. Roll-on ships are designed to carry wheeled cargo, such as cars, trucks, semi-trailer trucks, trailers, and railroad cars, that are driven on and off the ship on their own wheels.
China’s exports to the United States were $452.58 Billion during 2020, according to the United Nations COMTRADE database on international trade. The top goods exported from China to the U.S. and their total values for 2018 were electrical machinery ($152 billion), machinery ($117 billion), furniture and bedding ($35 billion), toys and sports equipment ($27 billion), and plastics ($19 billion).
Japan’s exports to the United States were $118.79 Billion during 2020, according to the United Nations COMTRADE database on international trade. These products are vehicles, machinery, electronics, optical and medical, aircraft, pharmaceuticals, plastics, rubbers, toys, games and sports equipment. United States Imports from Germany were $117.39 Billion during 2020, according to the United Nations COMTRADE database on international trade. We import most of the same products from Germany as we do Japan including $78 billion dollars in mineral fuels including oil.
We continue to hear about all the job openings in the United States. Amazon needs employees, Federal Express, UPS and all the trucking companies are begging for workers. I’ve seen several big banners on trucks begging for drivers at a starting salary of $2,500 a week. Walmart advertises all the time for truckers with a beginning salary of $84,000 a year. There is obviously a lot of work in delivering goods from the shipping ports of America. The shipping ports are all products made in China, Japan, Germany, and other places. We have and are pumping these countries with billions and billions of dollars.
We hear a lot about infrastructure. We need good roads and bridges, Internet, new pipe lines throughout America to carry our water supply and American made chips for our cars, computers and phones and more. We also must start making all the products just mentioned in America.
Our President and Congress must give companies every opportunity in reasonable tax breaks and incentives to compete with foreign countries. If we can bring manufacturing back to the United States then we will return to real jobs in this country that pay enough money for people to raise a family, own a car and save for retirement. Until this happens Americans will only see increasing financial hardships and more jobs floating away.
