Poor Sayfullo

Weapons grade stupidity from the New York Times

Sayfullo Saipov’s Miserable Job

Joe Allen

We can’t say what exactly triggered Sayfullo Saipov’s New York City attack. But we do know his trucking job was a crummy dead end. …

If we had a large union movement that could improve the truckers’ working conditions, would Sayfullo Saipov have led an obscure but reasonably happy life? Would his eight victims have gone on with their lives?

We will never know.

We do know that Saipov worked in an industry designed to keep its employees dependent on their bosses. From the old-fashioned trucking companies to the start-ups like Uber, drivers earn less and work harder now than they did just forty years ago.

I can’t help but wonder if Saipov was more like the perpetrators of workplace violence — who have characterized this country since the Reagan presidency — than like an Islamist terrorist.