Musings From Jimmy Hoffa Sr. On Social Issues In 1975

[anonymous6]

from his autobiography "Hoffa , The Real Story" in 1975..... thought this would be of interest.



Dope peddlers and rapists: " put em up against a wall and shoot the sons a bitches."


Busing: " go to a school in your own neighborhood no matter who lives there."


Capital Punishment: " Damned right."


Fear In The Cities: " crack down on the hoodlums. shoot their asses off."


Gun Control: " without legal guns it would be even worse. we gotta stop the shooters, not the guns."


Welfare: " sure take care of the old. but in Detroit there are families been on welfare for three straight generations and they never look for job. you give a bum a buck every day and the first day you miss he'll say " where's my buck, you son of a bitch?"


The Economy: " it's going to hell in a hand-basket."

 

[sortaisle]

A little rough and gruff for sure. Right in his own way. But like most things, a generalization or two thrown in that weakens his argument. Agree with a lot of it.

 

[Wally]

[h=2]Oh boy, how far union leadership has fallen towards the abyss that is liberalism.[/h]

 

[Bagels]

Oh boy, how far union leadership has fallen towards the abyss that is liberalism.

The problem is that since the Bush Administration began in 2001, the right has shifted to the extreme right whereas the left has shifted further toward the left.

I, and most other people who vote Democrat, support welfare reform. But a) how do you separate those who live off welfare, with no interest in searching for a job, from those who work two jobs, work 60 hours a week yet still earn less than $25,000/year with no benefits; and b) how do you fix the welfare states that exist in places like Detroit. Immediately cutting off welfare would make the situation worse. Remember, these places became welfare states, and thrived under Right leadership, because white people didn't want them living in their neighborhoods.

I'll also point out that I worked two to three jobs working 60-80 hours seven days per week for many years and never made more than $30,000. If we would've chosen to start a family in my mid-to-late 20s, my other half would've quit working, since child care costs exceed anything she could possibly earn. And the income I earned from THREE jobs -- occupying 80-100 hours of my time including commute, adjustments, etc. -- would've forced us on welfare. I've pulled over 100 routes as a seasonal/temp in my building and guess what? It was WAYYYYYYY easier than working Preload + two other jobs. Yet drivers putting in the hours I did would earn three times what I did.

The true injustices in this country are people working harder than ever before (productivity is by far at an all-time high), companies recording their biggest profits ever.... and people earning LESS compensation. Meanwhile, executive compensation continues to soar. BUT, OH, that's OK ... but a ten-year, 40-hour/week Walmart employee making $20,000 and collecting assitance is not. Damn him! He works 1/10000000000 as the Almighty Divine-Gifted UPS Drivers.... Just be thankful socialism brought you a union, which in turn has --- per the markets --- made you grossly overpaid. No wonder UPS spends MILLIONS per year on right-wing anti-union lobbiests...

 

[PiedmontSteward]

from his autobiography "Hoffa , The Real Story" in 1975..... thought this would be of interest.



Dope peddlers and rapists: " put em up against a wall and shoot the sons a bitches."


Busing: " go to a school in your own neighborhood no matter who lives there."


Capital Punishment: " Damned right."


Fear In The Cities: " crack down on the hoodlums. shoot their asses off."


Gun Control: " without legal guns it would be even worse. we gotta stop the shooters, not the guns."


Welfare: " sure take care of the old. but in Detroit there are families been on welfare for three straight generations and they never look for job. you give a bum a buck every day and the first day you miss he'll say " where's my buck, you son of a bitch?"


The Economy: " it's going to hell in a hand-basket."

If you ever get a chance, I recommend "Messages to the Membership" which was a collection of Hoffa's columns in Teamster magazine during his time as IBT General President. The IBT might even send you a free copy if you call the Outreach Department..

In the early 1960's, he advocated a congressional-mandated 35 hour work week so that all workers could reap the rewards of automation. He wanted to begin negotiating contracts along those lines but feared non-union companies would take advantage of their unionized competition.

 

[quamba 638]

Minimum wage just was approved for 9.50 in my state. It is currently at 7.25. That surpasses the 8.50 the PTers make now... may UPS knew in the next 5 years a change was coming? I remember when I turned 18 I was making 11 dollars an hour at the Hinckley Casino. I was able to have my own apartment, pay for my own bills, support my kid ( I started young) and still have a few bucks left over! It is BS that working full-time at some places nowadays doesn't allow you to even make ends meet. Especially when you work for a profitable company.

 

[sortaisle]

Welcome to trickle down economics. It's one of the biggest lies in history. There's just too much greed at the top (not everyone) for it to work with no regulation. The vast majority of people in this country could care less how the country is run so long as they can make a living. It goes to show how far down the ladder of importance money really is. It also shows how many people in the world are content being sheep. And sheep are always under the control of the shepherd or the wolf.

 

[anonymous6]

the corporations have so much power that they will eventually break the unions. when that happens it will be a race to the bottom with wages. the middle class will collapse . there will be a ruling class and a servant or slave class.

then after some time there will be revolution.

time after time this same scenario has occurred throughout history. it's a cycle.

Hoffa saw this coming if we didn't fight.

 

[BCFan]

Ok not to pick nits but we have James R Hoffa who disappeared and we have James P. Hoffa who is really invisible that is not Sr to Jr ......BC

 

[BCFan]

Of course as a third generation Teamster I would know that! BC

 

[Bagels]

the corporations have so much power that they will eventually break the unions. when that happens it will be a race to the bottom with wages. the middle class will collapse . there will be a ruling class and a servant or slave class.

then after some time there will be revolution.

time after time this same scenario has occurred throughout history. it's a cycle.

Hoffa saw this coming if we didn't fight.

The problem is that the corporations ARE running this country. Check out my youtube link, which is an older video, but rings true on every level.

​Obama campaigned for change against this. Of course, it hasn't / won't happen, but that's because the corporations are so powerful (Super PACs, anyone). I'm no Obama fan, but I'm not dumb enough to put in Radical Romney whose sole concern is to keep the wealthy wealth and the poor poor.