Posted on 07/22/2015 5:55:51 AM PDT by Kaslin
Hillary Clinton gave a speech warning that the new "sharing economy" of businesses such as the rideshare company Uber is "raising hard questions about workplace protections."
Democrats hate what labor unions hate, and a taxi drivers' union hates Uber, too. Its NYC website proclaims, "Uber has the money. But we are the PEOPLE!"
The taxi cartels, which provide inferior service and are micromanaged by government, don't like getting competition from efficient companies like Uber.
Clinton didn't mention Uber by name, but we don't have to wonder which company she meant. The New York Times reports that Clinton contacted Uber and told them her speech would threaten to "crack down" on companies that don't treat independent contractors as full employees. Apparently, Democrats think something's wrong if people are independent contractors.
But no driver is forced to work for Uber. People volunteer. They like the flexibility. They like getting more use out of their cars. It's win-win-win. Drivers earn money, customers save money while gaining convenience and Uber makes money. Why does Clinton insist on interfering with that?
Clinton's "social democrat" pal, New York's Mayor Bill de Blasio, wants to crack down on Uber by limiting how many drivers they may hire. Uber cleverly responded with an app -- a "de Blasio option" -- that shows people how much longer they'd have to wait if de Blasio gets his way.
Good for Uber for fighting back. I wish more companies did.
Federal Express didn't.
FedEx classified drivers as independent contractors. Again, drivers were willing to drive, FedEx was willing to pay, and customers got packages faster and more reliably than they did from the U.S. Postal Service.
But lawyers built a class action suit on behalf of FedEx drivers, saying they should be treated as employees, paying payroll tax, getting workman's compensation, receiving benefits. FedEx settled the case for $228 million and began abandoning its independent contractor system.
Uber's use of independent drivers -- who use their own cars -- is now called analogous to FedEx's use of delivery drivers.
That means Uber may soon have to treat its drivers as employees. Business analysts at ZenPayroll estimate that the changes will cost $209 million. We customers will pay for that, and we'll have fewer ride-share choices, too.
Lawsuits and politicians' attacks against one company have a chilling effect on others. The "independent contractor" assault will destroy all sorts of companies we'll never even know about because now they won't come into existence.
Some of the entrepreneurs who dreamed of starting them will look at the additional costs, crunch the numbers and decide there's not enough profit potential to risk investing their money.
Who knows what odd but popular sharing-economy innovations aren't happening even now -- ones we'd use and love -- because businesspeople with great ideas are frightened by the Clintons, deBlasios and lawyers?
In France, the old-fashioned cabbies rioted against Uber, blocking Uber cars and dropping rocks on them from a bridge. Instead of arresting rioters, the French government threatened to arrest Uber executives for breaking taxi rules. Once again, without even a new law directed specifically at Uber, the enemies of free choice got their way. Paris police have been ordered to forbid use of the Uber app.
I disagree with Jeb Bush about many things, but he was right to praise Uber for "disrupting the old order" of business.
The New York Times responded with a sarcastic piece pointing out that when Bush used an Uber car, the driver, Munir Algazaly, didn't recognize Bush. He said he plans to vote for Clinton, though Bush seemed like a "nice guy." Another site mocked Bush because he talked about "hailing" an Uber, not "hiring" one. Another pointed out that the car Bush rode in had a license plate holder that said "Fresh as F---" on it. Ha, ha.
But it's the sneering media who miss the point. Bush is smart to see serious benefits from "reputation" businesses like Uber. Politicians and lawyers who threaten to destroy such companies threaten us a
The problem is that in about half the taxis you step into now....either the driver doesn’t speak English....he won’t accept a credit card....or his backseat hasn’t been cleaned out in twelve years. So, why should I force myself to continue to accept this 2nd rate deal for a first-rate price?
Uber is run by Obama millennials, so when they all stop being good social justice warriors, and stop voting for leftists, then I will feel for their plight.
With taxi medallions going for around $700,000 each its no wonder the mayors big contributors want to freeze out UBER.
Is it going to be like Angie’s List? Everything was really great until some bad actors used it for easy access to victims of crime. I don’t use cabs very often, but when I do I prefer choosing a reputable company with vetted drivers.
Uber drivers may not be as safe, but I wouldn't necessarily say all cabbies are better.
Uber shakedown. Darling millennials, when you cash their donation check or when they spout social justice slogans. But, let them just try and make a profit without the union getting a cut and they are the epitome of evil capitalist.
Uber might just be big enough to actually make a ripple in the water about the pablum spewing old communists on the left.
“economically unsustainable” to Fascists like Hillary, means the government has insufficient control.
In the real world, without Fascism, Uber is very sustainable, economically.
But, I thought Socialists LIKED sharing. Oh wait, Microsoft didn’t make political donations until Bill had the DOJ attack them. This is just Hillary trolling for Uber dollars.
At least in my city, cabbies have to have two criminal record checks and a driving record check that goes back 5 years.
Hillary is racist. I've heard blacks say that Uber comes to pick them up where taxis refuse to go.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-11-25/returning-2706-past-40-years-best-performing-yellow-asset
Returning 2706% In The Past 40 Years, The Best Performing “Yellow” Asset Is...
Owning a medallion has been a winning trade that even the NY hedge fund managers who likely take several cab trips a day would covet. At the beginning of the Financial Crisis in January 2007, an “Individual” medallion went for $414,000 and a “Corporate” version for $522,000. Now, the numbers are $1.05 million (July 2013 “Individual”) and $1.32 million (last trade for a “Corporate” medallion, May 2013). That is an average return of 153% over the last six and a half years.
Marty Zweig used to feature his “fleet/seat” ratio where he compared the cost of a taxi medallion to the cost of a seat on the NYSE. This ratio showed when Wall Street was over-booming and the price of an exchange seat was becoming highly speculative.
What rat isn’t?
Another thing, so if they want to go somewhere overseas on vacation or business are you saying they are using the train all across the Atlantic or Pacific to get where they want to go?
This the ONE issue where we might successfully split some Millenial voters away from the Democrats.
Not Obamacare, not the moribund economy, not pending nuclear Armageddon in the Middle East....
But Hillary might take their Uber away. Their top-ranking concern apparently (sigh)
“Uber is taking its biggest steps yet towards a driver-free world, launching the Uber Advanced Technologies Center in Pittsburgh “to do research and development, primarily in the areas of mapping and vehicle safety and autonomy technology”.
“It’s a massive investment in the future from a company still primarily associated with the development of its app and associated back-end technology, but it’s one that Uber has been hinting at for a long time. The company is keenly aware that the majority of the cost of a journey comes from the driver’s salary, and has been eyeing up driverless cars as a potential saviour.
“In May 2014, Uber’s chief executive, Travis Kalanick, told Code conference that “the reason Uber could be expensive is because you’re not just paying for the car — you’re paying for the other dude in the car.
‘When there’s no other dude in the car, the cost of taking an Uber anywhere becomes cheaper than owning a vehicle. So the magic there is, you basically bring the cost below the cost of ownership for everybody, and then car ownership goes away.’”
http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/feb/03/are-driverless-cars-the-future-of-uber
We were stationed in Mainz Germany in 1978-1979 and my husband wanted me to make my EUSAR drivers license so I could drive our car, but after seeing how the Germans drove in Mainz I refused to, and it wasn't really necessary, because every where I wanted to go. there was either a bus, streetcar or train available. Plus I had my two feet.
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