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Funny how Uber didn't fix that but instead put new drivers in another Debt., Uber sub prime car loans.

by sschueller 9y ago

toomuchtodo 9y ago
"Disruption" doesn't eliminate rent seeking; it only creates a new class of rent seekers.
- eicossa 9y ago
  Don't know why you're being downvoted. Seems like a nice point to debate about.
  - Analemma_ 9y ago
    Because Silicon Valley, of which Hacker News and its commentariat are a subset, really tries to avoid thinking about the fact that “disruption” usually just means “meet the new boss, same as the old boss”. Posts which bring this to the surface cause cognitive dissonance and so have to be greyed so they can be ignored.
    - em3rgent0rdr 9y ago
      but at least the new boss (tens of thousands of $ for a new car loan) is better than the old boss (hundreds of thousands of $ for a medallion).
      - QAPereo 9y ago
        Give the new boss a few more years...
- adrianratnapala 9y ago
  Let me put my chairman Mao hat on, and say this is why the needs to be perpetual disruption. More seriously: the world is changing all the time businesses and business models face challenges all the time. This produces churn where the current crop of winners have little political clout, but start to gain it as they settle in. Of course if they succeed in gaining political clout, they might be able to dig in and prevent change for a long time until something big and rare comes along and undermines the whole system.
- rebuilder 9y ago
  You could easily argue disruption is likely to result in worse rent-seeking. Premise: The main way you disrupt an industry is by radically increasing financial efficiency. You increase profit margins by finding innovative ways to decrease spending on e.g. workforce, letting you shift a larger percentage of your revenue to funders, i.e. the owner class. Those profits are used to further innovate in ways that increase profits, decreasing the working population's share of profits and increasingly centralizing wealth. How does that not happen?
MichaelGG 9y ago
In Guatemala, ex-taxi drivers tell me the daily spend on the car went to 1/3rd the amount when they bought a car versus renting a taxi. So they were paying 3x as much per day, and in a few years would have nothing to show for it. So even with Uber's 25% cut and lower prices, they say they're doing way better. In the US, I'm not sure you can compare a medallion costing nearly a million dollars with a car loan for a few dozen thousand. The medallions can swing in price (as we see), a car probably will follow a well-known decrease.
- yazaddaruvala 9y ago
  What would be even better is car "pooling". 4 drivers really only need two cars. i.e. Share the cars between the night, and the day.
  - MichaelGG 9y ago
    Some of the folks renting cars here do that, rent out for a day and night shift. They're making good money doing so, making it so they charge enough so the actual driver can just squeek out a living. Still better than working a taxi they tell me.

Funny how Uber didn't fix that but instead put new drivers in another Debt., Uber sub prime car loans.

toomuchtodo 9y ago

"Disruption" doesn't eliminate rent seeking; it only creates a new class of rent seekers.

eicossa 9y ago
Don't know why you're being downvoted. Seems like a nice point to debate about.
- Analemma_ 9y ago
  Because Silicon Valley, of which Hacker News and its commentariat are a subset, really tries to avoid thinking about the fact that “disruption” usually just means “meet the new boss, same as the old boss”. Posts which bring this to the surface cause cognitive dissonance and so have to be greyed so they can be ignored.
  - em3rgent0rdr 9y ago
    but at least the new boss (tens of thousands of $ for a new car loan) is better than the old boss (hundreds of thousands of $ for a medallion).
    - QAPereo 9y ago
      Give the new boss a few more years...
adrianratnapala 9y ago
Let me put my chairman Mao hat on, and say this is why the needs to be perpetual disruption. More seriously: the world is changing all the time businesses and business models face challenges all the time. This produces churn where the current crop of winners have little political clout, but start to gain it as they settle in. Of course if they succeed in gaining political clout, they might be able to dig in and prevent change for a long time until something big and rare comes along and undermines the whole system.
rebuilder 9y ago
You could easily argue disruption is likely to result in worse rent-seeking. Premise: The main way you disrupt an industry is by radically increasing financial efficiency. You increase profit margins by finding innovative ways to decrease spending on e.g. workforce, letting you shift a larger percentage of your revenue to funders, i.e. the owner class. Those profits are used to further innovate in ways that increase profits, decreasing the working population's share of profits and increasingly centralizing wealth. How does that not happen?

MichaelGG 9y ago

In Guatemala, ex-taxi drivers tell me the daily spend on the car went to 1/3rd the amount when they bought a car versus renting a taxi. So they were paying 3x as much per day, and in a few years would have nothing to show for it. So even with Uber's 25% cut and lower prices, they say they're doing way better. In the US, I'm not sure you can compare a medallion costing nearly a million dollars with a car loan for a few dozen thousand. The medallions can swing in price (as we see), a car probably will follow a well-known decrease.

yazaddaruvala 9y ago
What would be even better is car "pooling". 4 drivers really only need two cars. i.e. Share the cars between the night, and the day.
- MichaelGG 9y ago
  Some of the folks renting cars here do that, rent out for a day and night shift. They're making good money doing so, making it so they charge enough so the actual driver can just squeek out a living. Still better than working a taxi they tell me.