Uber Cabs Targeted By Democrat Politicos
In the case of the taxi monopoly, much of that governmental "regulating cost" takes the form of bribing, donating to and taking care of the politicians who protect it.
I was just out of grad school, broke, and working in New York City. Buddies and I split a Brooklyn apartment where we spent 5 hours a night sleeping. Everything in New York is expensive, particularly cabs.
We used gypsy cabs to take us home late at night. Traditional Yellow Cabs would usually not go to Brooklyn, and if they did the fare was twice the rate of our guy, Raul. His motto was, "We will go anywhere; we ain't yellow."
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I have always had a soft spot for hard-working immigrants pursuing the American dream. Raul was reliable and affordable. There is nothing more American than a foreign taxi driver.
It was clear to me even back then that certain things are expensive because they are government-regulated. Invariably, the products that are the most expensive are the ones most regulated: Cable, health care, energy, education, etc. Costs rise and value declines whenever the visible and sticky hand of the government is involved. When the "invisible hand" of the free market is allowed to operate unfettered, costs go down and value goes up.
Now comes the app-based industry disrupter to those cab cartels, Uber cabs. Instead of calling a fixed-rate, local cab company and hoping it does not send a felon in a 20 year-old nasty car that he probably lives in, you can use your cell phone to e-hail an eager-to-please owner/operator of a nice Town Car or Yukon.
Uber cab drivers are remarkably efficient and affordable. They are courteous, tell you when they will pick you up, send you a receipt (no tipping), and have bottled water for you. You rate them online immediately and they are paid accordingly.
Drunk driving is reduced, and lives have been saved. The system works for the consumer -- but not if some politicians have their way.
What is unfolding now with Uber cabs now is the itching attempt by big, urban (a.k.a. Democrat) governments to run them out of business. Government bureaucrats looked at the Uber cab business and realized that something was wrong with it: They were not getting a cut. Too much value was going to the customer!
Government's grimy hands are everywhere. It is not unusual for me to rent a $19 a day car on Hotwire. The government taxes and fees can total about as much as the car rental charges, and for what? Hertz or Dollar bought the car (paid taxes), registered it (paid taxes), got the car to the airport, booked my reservation, shuttled me to the car or delivered the car to me, and took it back. They pay additional city, state and federal taxes on profits. The government makes more per gallon on your gas than Exxon does. What did government do to deserve almost half of the revenues?
If you think there is not a cabal of government and the cab companies they "regulate," look no further than New York City. I have traveled there monthly for 30 years now. Why are there no trains to Manhattan from any of the airports? You have to take cabs, and nothing is done to encourage cab sharing to the city. In New York, the only way a cab is "shared" is when a cab breaks down and one New Yorker takes the hubcaps while another steals the tires.
Even the credit card tipping system in taxis starts at 20 percent and only goes higher. Prices are fixed. It's a quasi-monopoly.
As homage to his taxi lobby and real estate cronies, the first move of new socialist mayor, Bill deBlasio, was to get rid of the city's iconic horse-drawn carriages. The only thing "green" about libs is the money they expect.
NY cabbies drive dangerously. Few taxis have shocks, and they smell. In a cab ride during fashion week in New York, my driver kept introducing his new fragrance.
Uber cabs would put NYC cabbies out of business, put out of work by American ingenuity and reduced to hanging around their mosques all day, angry at America. What could go wrong?
"Limousine Liberals" like Nanny Pelosi and Harry Reid are chauffeured around Washington, so they don't have to worry about cabs or their cost. They probably would not get picked up anyway because cabbies tend to refuse rides to passengers who are likely to rob them.
