Posted on 07/08/2008 11:28:47 AM PDT by fightinJAG
NEW YORK (CBS) ― New York City taxi cab drivers say soaring gas prices are threatening to drive them out of business, causing many to demand a $1 gas surcharge to be mandated.
Some drivers are saying their cooking pots are empty and their incomes are falling as gas prices continue to rise. They want a surcharge immediately, and additional increases if pump prices continue to go up.
"Why is it that taxi drivers are always treated as second-class citizens?" asked Bhairavi Desai, the Executive Director Taxi Workers Alliance. "Is it because the majority of drivers are people of color? Is it because the majority of drivers are immigrants?"
Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the TLC are opposed to the surcharge, saying the drivers have gotten two raises in the past four years.
"I don't think that at this point you need a fuel surcharge on taxis," Bloomberg said. "We need a surcharge on automobiles."
(Excerpt) Read more at wcbstv.com ...
So, let’s get this straight.
The guy selling the service can’t adjust his price to reflect his costs.
The guy keeping him from doing so also refuses to reduce taxes that drive up the other guy’s costs.
It’s a strange world we live in.
Why don’t taxi drivers all have different rates, then? The TLC can’t have that, among other things, because you would never know what a cab charges until after you flagged it down. you may have got a $5 a mile cab or an $ 8 a mile cab.
Some standardization and predictability in a city with 13,000 taxicabs is a good thing.
“Why is it that taxi drivers are always treated as second-class citizens?”
Is it because 90% don’t even have a high school education?
Is it because 90% of them couldn’t find work doing anything other than what they’re doing now?
Is it because many of them can barely speak the english language?
I don’t know, are they second class citizens? Are they even legal citizens?
Does the race card have to be played whenever there's a disagreement? It just gets old.
Exactly. I was sympathetic to the guy’s cause until he pulled the race card. At that point, I couldn’t care less about his predicament. Let him go out of business. I have no sympathy for those who try to use their race as leverage in negotiations—indeed, it pretty quickly turns to spite.
Appeal to my logic or make a genuine emotional plea. If you can’t do that, I really don’t have any interest in your cause.
I agree that standardization helps the customer, which, cabdrivers should realize, helps them.
If people heard Rush today, he spent a lot of time talking about the relationship of energy prices to growth and prosperity in general.
One of the things this story says to me is, again, Rats (indeed, many of our elected officials) have no clue that something has to give, else growth and prosperity will be dampened.
And, as Rush pointed out and is obvious, the government never, EVER contemplates whether it should be the one doing the giving (by, e.g., lowering fuel taxes). If the gubmint does have to make cuts, it goes into hyperdrive to wail that those cuts will come from ESSENTIAL services-—schools, fire stations, police stations will be cut.
Cabs are essential to NYC’s prosperity and economy. People just won’t drive them if they are going to lose money doing so.
I agree. I guess these cabbies haven’t yet caught on to the fact that, in a point of contention such as this one, the Rats in power would NEVER allow a business to adjust prices to reflect costs.
Rats just DO NOT do that. That would be a repudiation of socialism and a capitulation to capitalism and that pesky law of supply and demand.
It has nothing to do with race, but everything to do with socialism.
Everything else is going up except for wages...How are people ever going to survive if they don't charge more?
It's a vicious circle, but what are ya going to do to pay the bills?
I agree with you, and I don’t blame the cabbies for wanting to add a surcharge because they are incurring an additional cost burden these days.
I think raising prices is a good thing, in that people can see the impact of our foolish no new domestic drilling policy.
And again, notice that Bloomberg never even considers that maybe NYC should cut some of its fuel taxes and make up the difference by cutting out stupid spending.
This is what happens when the gubmint highly regulates your business: you are not allowed to adjust prices to reflect costs.
And if something must give, it must be you, not the government using your hard work as a revenue stream.
P.S. In Virginia, state troopers are now adding a “fuel surcharge” to your fine if they have to chase you down!
Well... the cabbies could probably save a couple of bucks by not talking on an open phone line to someone in their country of origin for the ENTIRE time that they’re driving.
Fine, it’ll come out of their tip though.
They're legal residents - there is a ton of paperwork and background checking involved in getting a hack license.
That's why there are far, far more Pakistani cab drivers than Mexican ones.
EXACTLY!
Bloomberg would like to see less traffic on NYC streets. Makes it easier for his limo to run him out to his private plane to fly to Bermuda where he has several homes.
High gas prices? Let them drive Prius’
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