Posted on 03/18/2014 9:20:42 AM PDT by relictele
Seattle Monday became the first city in the country to limit drivers for Lyft, uberX and Sidecar, in what will eventually be an overhaul of all of the city’s ride-service rules. The regulations, approved unanimously by the City Council, will limit each company to 150 drivers on the road at the same time, collectively capping them at 450.
(Excerpt) Read more at seattletimes.com ...
To use a metaphor in keeping with this story, liberal politicians are the dog who actually caught they car they were chasing. All the blather about ridesharing, carpools, air pollution, traffic congestion, etc. etc. was taken seriously by certain groups of people and those certain groups of people in software-savvy Seattle actually called their bluff and devised methods, strategies and businesses that addressed the problem.
Oops! The politicos, watching taxes, votes and probable kickbacks vanish, decide that they've seen too much of a good thing and enact caps.
Meanwhile, taxi types with names like Abdul Yusuf and Samatar Guled actually have the brass neck to claim that further state protection of their 1990-vintage monopoly creates 'a level playing field.' Islam also bans irony, apparently. And are these some of the same cabbies who won't transport alcohol?
Inevitably, the anti-corporate greed signs appear as they do at any socialist outing. In the mind of a liberal and/or a state-protected monopoly, 'corporate greed' is any dollar that goes in someone else's pocket.
The bureaucrats are throwing everything they have at the private ride companies, especially insurance regulations. Apparently these people have never actually ridden in an old-school taxi - they're usually in deplorable shape inside and out with a smell to match.
Communism is an ugly thing in theory; in practice it's even worse.
It’s what they’re really all about. Oppression and control
Communism courtesy of the Teamsters Union.
Seems like every month or so I read a story about seattle and laugh out loud about how glad I am that I left there in 2011.
It is because those stories strike at the heart of WHY I left there.
Anti-Dog-Eat-Dog Laws..........................
You can carry that over to other things.
Water shortage. Encourage conservation. People conserve and less water is used. Less water used means less money coming it to the water company (usually the city). Net result, raise rates
Same for electricity. Same for gasoline.
In a sane world, where there is a shortage, the government would encourage growth (more dams, more power plants, drilling for more oil or use coal). Instead, government does everything in its power to discourage growth and commerce while still wanting the tax base to grow.
Those in charge have no clue when it comes to the economy.
Government is certainly a problem but this is where media bias is so pervasive and often subtle that people don’t understand the scope of problem.
How many times do we have to hear newspapers and TV news talk about conserving this or that, carpools, etc. etc.?
Each company can have only 150 drivers, and as of now there are only 3 companies and thousands of drivers. Couldn’t there be 10,000 sub-companies?
We may find out.
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