The city of Austin, Texas essentially ejected Uber and Lyft – the ride-sharing services that have been disrupting the urban transportation model – to protect the local taxi cartel.
Austinians – while continuing to elect the special-interest-sodden Democrat hamsters that have made Austin “the Minneapolis of Texas” – are not amused.
Remember – government regulations are always less about safety than about making sure government controls the graft industry:
Now that Uber and Lyft are gone, Austin—generally thought to be a tech-savvy city—has instead put itself on the map for its ham-fisted governance. The city’s response is only making things worse. Last week it held a job fair for out-of-work Uber and Lyft drivers, at which it encouraged drivers to get fingerprinted and sign up for the only remaining ridesharing company in town, a local app called Get Me…In other words, the city used taxpayer dollars to promote the one private ridesharing company that chose to comply with its onerous regulations.
Austinians are, instead, flocking to “black market” ride-share sources on Facebook and Craigslist.
Where “black market” = “market solutions that serve the actual need”.
Which is pretty revolutionary, isn’t it?
When you can’t beat them, legislate them out of business. I wonder if any intrepid local MSM talking heads will follow the money to see if there is any link between Get Me and local libturd politicians.
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Sorry, Mitch, but Austin is more liberal than Minneapolis AND St. Paul together! It was moving that way when I lived in Houston in the 80s. Austin was part of my sales territory, so, on many a flight back to Houston, I heard business people cursing the totalitarian leanings of the state legislature.
This is actually personal to me. My nephew was one of those Uber drivers. He doesn’t have a lot of job skills but this is one thing he was good at and got fantastic reviews. He was making a living at it but now he is out of a job. I don’t know if he was one of the “job seekers” at the local rally.
It is the mark of a true dictatorship when the elite tax the public then give it back and convince the public that it was they, the elite, who make the money to flow. If they would just leave the public alone we’d all be better off except the elite who would actually have to work for a living instead of sponging off people’s hard earned wages.
PassOut
If Uber and Lyft employed foreigners and gave copious donations to politicians, none of this would be happening.