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Ever Taken an Uber ?
I have. Somebody else offered to pick up the cab and they chose Uber so we tried it. It wasn't too bad. It was a little nicer car than most cabs, although not as green. The company we usually use runs a fleet of Priuses (Prii?). The driver didn't know where he was going and relied on Google for directions, but it's like that with most cab drivers these days. Cab driving has been deskilled by the web to some extent. No longer can you count on your cabbie to know every little street and alley in town. From the point of view of the passenger the Uber experience was about the same, maybe a little cheaper, but not much. Of course, we're in a smallish city and it was on a Wednesday night so we didn't get a nasty surprise like the guy who was charged $800 for a 20-mile ride in Los Angeles. (You can review the 7 most outrageous Uber rip-offs here ➡ Alternet) So from the passenger's POV it's not all that bad, really, and if you're a "free-market" libertarian and look no further than your own narrow self-interest you might even think Uber is cool. But if you step back and look at their business model it's really quite disturbing. It's an example of the Neoliberal program, globalized finance run amok.
Uber is now valued at $50 billion.1 That's how much corporations, hedge funds and other investors have paid for a piece of their eventual profits. Why have they paid that much ? Quite simply, the goal of Uber is to put every cab company on the planet out of business. Uber hasn't invented anything new. Cabs have been around since before there were cars. What they want to achieve is consolidation. They hope to capture the revenue streams now going to thousands of smaller cab operators around the world and direct them to Uber; a single centralized corporation. It's the same thing that Walmart did with retail in this country. That part of it is bad enough. How can anyone think that the elimination of thousands, or millions, of small firms, many of them family businesses, is a good thing ? The worst of it is the fate of the employees, the cab drivers. They have rioted in Paris2 and Mexico3. They know what's being done to them and they don't like it. What is now being called the "gig economy" is a horrible future for the people who must seek a living in it. Something like Uber could never take off in an economy with full employment.4 People just wouldn't put up with it. There was a diary here on Daily Kos about it, Uber Drivers Chase for Fool's Gold, and one at Salon, I quit: Miseries of an Uber driver. What we're seeing is the emergence of a new class, in advanced countries anyway, the Precariat.5. These are people who work but their existence is precarious. They have no regular schedule, no regular salary, no benefits and no job security. In the case of Uber they must maintain their own cabs. This is the end result of deregulated, globalized Neoliberal economics and it is not progress.
OK, there's something to piss you off this Tuesday morning, especially if you have kids or grandkids. So tell me something good. Got any links to share, what's up with your local group and ...
Have you ever taken an Uber ?
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Sunday, August 9th
Butte County Kossacks of CA-01 Meet-up
TIME: 1:00 PM
LOCATION: Broadway Heights Restaurant
300 Broadway St. (Upstairs) • Chico
ORGANIZER: Send smileycreek a kosmail to attend
RSVPs:
1. smileycreek
2. Paradise50
3. SoCalHobbit
4. Caddis Fly (most likely)
5. side pocket (strong maybe)
6. Besame (maybe)
7. Chico David RN (probable)
8. Sue
9. Jan Britton
10.
Plus: 11 more RSVP's from the Daily Kos Mailing List!
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Maybees: |
Latest diary: Chico & Paradise Meet-up: Sunday, August 9th, 1:00 PM
Announcing Asheville, North Carolina as the location
for our next Regional Event! 9.26.15
Asheville, N.C. is the destination for September 26, 2015! DKos Asheville, the In-Real-Life group under the leadership of randallt, has been setting the example for other IRL groups across the nation regarding registering people to vote, getting out the vote, having a state open thread and setting up strategy conferences for their region. Because of this impressive leadership we've asked randallt to be the State Leader for all of North Carolina. We've got important work to do on the ground there and randallt has shown he's the person to make that happen.
All states are welcome to attend this event and if you do you can expect to meet Markos Moulitsas in person, as well as some of the Daily Kos staff. More details regarding this regional event will be shared in the future so please stay tuned to Connect! Unite! Act!
For now, SAVE THE DATE and spread the word!
by susans ♥ for Los Angeles Kos
Rhonda, matts2, cat2cate, KatSkahnne, 714day, Chiwere, Teen Loner, Moody Loner, (in back) otoelbc, Zack from SFV, gmats, susans, Shockwave, Frank Vyan Walton, rserven and Joe Bacon's legs
You can join
Los Angeles Kos by sending a Kosmail to
susans.
navajo maintains the above event list. Kosmail her if you have any diaries
about your event or if you have changes or additions.
EVERYONE is welcome, tell us what you're working on,
share your show and tell, vent, whatever you want.
This is an open thread. Nothing is off topic.