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>If it was transferring wealth from drivers to shareholders, they wouldn't do the job. > >They chose to do the job, so it is at least better than the alternativ

>If it was transferring wealth from drivers to shareholders, they wouldn't do the job. > >They chose to do the job, so it is at least better than the alternative options they could do. You've hit upon the reason why austerity is so 'popular': it artificially constrains aggregate demand for labor, reducing available options, which allows businesses to suppress wages for workers, despite them creating the same amount of wealth they were before. There simply don't exist jobs in which workers get to keep the vast majority of the wealth they create. You can't choose to do them. They aren't an option. There just exist jobs where you get to keep relatively more or less. Uber is in the latter category, and people take it because they have fewer options.

ethbro 11y ago
Cooperatives / employee-owned collectives? Say what you want about efficiencies, but there are absolutely alternatives, especially in non-capital intensive industries.
- crdoconnor 11y ago
  Cooperatives still need to pay rent, purchase raw materials and have access to the capital. All of those factors are ways in which the wealth created by the cooperative's labor can be diverted to the 1%. That said, ride sharing cooperatives would be vastly superior alternative to Uber. If cities mandated that ride sharing organizations had to be cooperatives, that would be one way in which they could stem the outflow of wealth and provide a decent middle class job to their citizens.
  - ethbro 11y ago
    Granted. But just because we can't realize the final solution to the capitalist bourgeoise swine isn't a reason against an ownership structure that promotes more employee equity. ;) The honest argument is probably access to capital. When you boil it down, why would a capital owner trust a structure that was fairly antithetical to him or her and their pals? It's starting off with a fairly big black mark. And then of course there's the "too many leaders, not enough followers" issue. I'd love any links that pointed to whether anyone has come up with a good solution to the tension between the efficiencies of centralized control and the equality of diffuse control in a general manner. I thought Kim Stanley Robinson's Red Mars idea of a truly randomly elected legislative body was interesting. Jury duty for legislature, in essence. Albeit you'd probably need a separate body to develop professionalism.
    - crdoconnor 11y ago
      I'm not against it, I'm just pointing out that even with an equitable ownership of a business the value of your labor is still being leeched upon via your factors of production.

ethbro 11y ago

Cooperatives / employee-owned collectives? Say what you want about efficiencies, but there are absolutely alternatives, especially in non-capital intensive industries.

crdoconnor 11y ago
Cooperatives still need to pay rent, purchase raw materials and have access to the capital. All of those factors are ways in which the wealth created by the cooperative's labor can be diverted to the 1%. That said, ride sharing cooperatives would be vastly superior alternative to Uber. If cities mandated that ride sharing organizations had to be cooperatives, that would be one way in which they could stem the outflow of wealth and provide a decent middle class job to their citizens.
- ethbro 11y ago
  Granted. But just because we can't realize the final solution to the capitalist bourgeoise swine isn't a reason against an ownership structure that promotes more employee equity. ;) The honest argument is probably access to capital. When you boil it down, why would a capital owner trust a structure that was fairly antithetical to him or her and their pals? It's starting off with a fairly big black mark. And then of course there's the "too many leaders, not enough followers" issue. I'd love any links that pointed to whether anyone has come up with a good solution to the tension between the efficiencies of centralized control and the equality of diffuse control in a general manner. I thought Kim Stanley Robinson's Red Mars idea of a truly randomly elected legislative body was interesting. Jury duty for legislature, in essence. Albeit you'd probably need a separate body to develop professionalism.
  - crdoconnor 11y ago
    I'm not against it, I'm just pointing out that even with an equitable ownership of a business the value of your labor is still being leeched upon via your factors of production.