I detest all those who are ‘peacefully’ rioting, looting and burning in various US cities, not least because most of them are just ‘larping’ middle- or even upper-class white kids. However, as has been obvious for some years, there is something very, very wrong with the form of capitalism to which we are currently subjected. Uber embodies this system perfectly and will make a few people very rich on the back of many people who are very poor, even as it loses tens of billions. The whole thing is disgusting.
Variant
3 years ago
Should business exist to provide value to customers or to provide jobs you approve of?
Richard Pinch
3 years ago
There is a trenchant analysis of Uber’s position on the London Reconnections blog. A point made there is that if Uber were classified as a transport company, it would be directly liable for the 20% on fares: individual minicab drivers are typically below the VAT threshold.
Peter Ian Staker
3 years ago
Interesting. Isn’t Ponzi finance just an over valued company though? In a ponzi scheme the investors are unaware of the how works. With Uber, Investors have access to the company information and chose to invest.
David Barnett
3 years ago
Another complication of Uber model is that there are both part-time and full-time drivers. What is viable (on marginal cost grounds) for a part-time driver, is not viable for a full-time driver (who has to fund his car and insurance etc. from his fares). In other words, the part-timers can undercut the full-timers.
I detest all those who are ‘peacefully’ rioting, looting and burning in various US cities, not least because most of them are just ‘larping’ middle- or even upper-class white kids. However, as has been obvious for some years, there is something very, very wrong with the form of capitalism to which we are currently subjected. Uber embodies this system perfectly and will make a few people very rich on the back of many people who are very poor, even as it loses tens of billions. The whole thing is disgusting.
Should business exist to provide value to customers or to provide jobs you approve of?
There is a trenchant analysis of Uber’s position on the London Reconnections blog. A point made there is that if Uber were classified as a transport company, it would be directly liable for the 20% on fares: individual minicab drivers are typically below the VAT threshold.
Interesting. Isn’t Ponzi finance just an over valued company though? In a ponzi scheme the investors are unaware of the how works. With Uber, Investors have access to the company information and chose to invest.
Another complication of Uber model is that there are both part-time and full-time drivers. What is viable (on marginal cost grounds) for a part-time driver, is not viable for a full-time driver (who has to fund his car and insurance etc. from his fares). In other words, the part-timers can undercut the full-timers.