- USA TRADERS THREAD -

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- For the first time in 25 years, the more than 33,000 workers responsible for running New York City's critical system of subways and buses have gone on strike.

Mass transit ground to a halt early Tuesday, leaving hundreds of thousands of commuters in 22-degree Fahrenheit temperatures to find other means of getting to work and snarling roads as the Christmas shopping season reaches a climax.

New York's mass-transit system is the nation's largest, carrying some 7 million bus and subway riders a day.