Buggy Whip Manufacturers Sue Ford Over Lost Revenues
Via Reason and the St. Louis Post Dispatch:
Four taxi drivers are suing Uber and seeking class-action status, alleging they’ve seen up to a 40 percent dip in business since the ride-hailing service began operating in violation of local regulations.
Mike Powers:
Buggy-whip manufacturer complaining about his competitors:
https://coyoteblog.com/coyote_blog/2014/09/non-monetary-job-benefits-example.html
"[I]t is irritating to try to run a business in compliance with the law and
November 19, 2015, 11:39 amto find yourself undercut by folks who are avoiding the more expensive
parts of the law. Years ago there used to be a couple of non-profits
who competed against me running campgrounds. They were really for
profit - they just paid their president a large salary rather than
dividends - but used the non-profit status** as a dodge to try to accept
volunteer labor. Eventually, they were stopped by several courts from
doing so."
Earl Wertheimer:
Except that most of these laws were created to restrict competition. The city colludes with the Taxi association to restrict the number of taxi licenses. The Taxi association now has an asset (license) that escalates in value depending on population growth, etc... Their monopoly on taxi service enables them to benefit from the higher taxi fares for decades. The original taxi association owners now hold licenses that are no longer obtainable from the city and in some cases are worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.
http://nycitycab.com/business/taximedallionlist.aspx
Now they are crying because the government they colluded with is no longer willing to support their monopoly.
Not-for-profit status is an entirely different scam.
The solution in both cases is not to enforce the law, but to eliminate the monopoly or remove the not-for-profit status.
November 19, 2015, 5:26 pmbigmaq1980:
"Not-for-profit status is an entirely different scam." Absolutely correct. Not an apples to apples comparison whatsoever.
November 19, 2015, 5:55 pmCraig Loehle:
There was a famous old satire from France I believe where the candle makers were complaining about unfair competition from the sun, but you don't find out it is the sun until the end.
November 20, 2015, 6:35 amIndeed governments often do try to protect buggy-whip makers. The "unfair" button in humans is easily pushed and we don't like change.
rst1317:
What sadly entertains me more isn't this sort of buggy whip vs Ford situation but a lot of Progressive blogs /and comments that touch on Uber. They'll rail against Uber for not paying benefits, living wage, "forcing" drivers to pay for the car ( aka use their own vehicle ). They seem to have no clue that almost all of the taxi industry has worked that way since the 1970s.
November 22, 2015, 12:30 pm