A fax arrived around 10:30 Tuesday morning to Arizona Trails, Inc. The independent Flagstaff business is responsible for Texaco gasoline distribution in Northern Arizona. The fax was a press release from their boss, Texaco-Shell in Houston. It read that the prices of wholesale gas were now frozen and a daily gas allocation of product had been put in place.

While most Americans sat glued to their televisions waiting to watch the latest news unfold, corporate American leaders were making decisions that could make or break the future of our economy.