Posted on 01/26/2016 7:51:36 AM PST by MichCapCon
A limousine company based out of Dearborn Heights is suing Uber for failing to abide by Michigan’s 25-year-old Limousine Transportation Act. At first glance, the lawsuit seems like an attempt to take down a competitor: The same limousine company filing the lawsuit recently had its operating license revoked by the state for failure to comply with the same regulations it’s now accusing Uber of not complying with. It’s like when kids get caught whispering in class and their first reaction is: “But he was doing it too!â€
Whether this lawsuit has any merit is hard to say. The company is accusing Uber of violating federal racketeering law, but Uber and other ride-sharing technology companies have been operating under local regulations in several different communities in Michigan. Regardless, this case and many various legal issues surrounding ride-sharing could be solved with a simple solution: Create commonsense statewide regulations for ride-sharing services.
There is a package of bills that passed the Michigan House last year that would do just that. These proposed regulations would require ride-sharing companies to acquire a license and register with the state, submit themselves to state audits, keep a certain level of insurance, do background checks on all drivers and get all vehicles inspected by a professional annually. Importantly, this legislation would also prohibit local officials from piling on additional regulations, so as to prevent cities from trying to protect existing taxi and limousine companies from this new form of competition.
Creating statewide regulations, as Ohio just did, would help settle this ongoing issue of how to deal with ride-sharing technologies. One can feel sympathy for taxi and limousine companies who are having their business model disrupted, but neither the state nor cities should step in to protect these incumbent companies. And if Uber gains an advantage through statewide regulation, then taxi regulations should be revisited and modified to create an equal playing field. In the end, the goal of regulation should be to protect and benefit consumers, not preferred companies, industries or technologies.
The answer to any innovation is to regulate and tax it to death.
1. No one can't. Anyone who gets rich off of special privileges deserves contempt.
2. That anti-racketeering laws might be used against a company that figures out a better way to help people get from point A to point B is a sign that we no longer make laws as that term is traditionally understood. Instead we make "legislation" that can be used by the appropriate special interest for any purpose whatsoever.
Really.
It's like when they allow mothers driving their infants to use the ride-sharing lane, because normally the mother and infant would drive separately? Not.
Whether or not Uber is a good idea, or legal/illegal, it definitely isn't ride sharing.
Does the English language mean anything to anyone anymore?
Do we even care about communicating even simple ideas to one another?
Throughout history, poverty is the normal condition of man. Advances which permit this norm to be exceeded — here and there, now and then — are the work of an extremely small minority, frequently despised, often condemned, and almost always opposed by all right-thinking people. Whenever this tiny minority is kept from creating, or (as sometimes happens) is driven out of a society, the people then slip back into abject poverty.
This is known as “bad luck”
R. Heinlein
“If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. If it stops moving, subsidize it.” — Ronald Reagan explaining liberals’ view of economics.
When I hear the words “common sense regulation”, I reach for my revolver.
So I gather you're not a Trump supporter, then?
Judging by the way it's spoken and written, I'd say not.
Heinlein had a lot of good commentary in his writings.
I was sadly disappointed by what Hollywood did with Starship Troopers.
They left out all the good social commentary that was the underpinning of the society in the book.
Heinlein really took our society to task in that book. A no holds barred, behind the woodshed butt whooping.
Thanks, I had forgotten about that RAH quote - which is pure gold.
Sweet baby, Jesus, it’s a medical condition with some people: regardless of the thread topic, bring up/in XYZ.
*** Back on topic
Yep, like any govt induced monopoly, the benefactors get antsy when the serfs get uppity. Nasty when ‘their turf’ is encroached, and down right antagonistic when the ‘lessers’ start ‘moving on up’.
My pleasure.
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