6 ms·

The medallion system reminds me of feudalism. It blows my mind that taxi drivers would defend this system and not flee to Uber/Lyft/etc.

mschuster91 8y ago
> It blows my mind that taxi drivers would defend this system and not flee to Uber/Lyft/etc. For those who defend the system, often enough the medallions are their life saving / insurance when they get old, and almost always financed by loans. The medallions going worthless at the same time invalidates their retirement plans and STILL leaves them on the hook for the loan.
- ethbro 8y ago
  This is something that's made me think a lot about the health care debate. Would it not be just that, if we're going to rewrite the economic rules in some areas, we give partial compensation towards those we just screwed over? Presumably we're changing the rules because of progress (e.g. Uber and Lyft showing on-demand rideshare has a market), which is good for everyone. But say the human lifespan is 85 years +/-. 25 years for education to post-secondary graduation (e.g. bachelor's degree in US). Probably another 2-5 years of accumulating working capital for your venture. So there's a set number of "shots" a person gets in their life. In this instance, what's wrong with saying "We're doing away with the medallion system. Existing medallions will be repurchased by the government at a price proportional to ownership time. Funding will be accomplished by a tax on rideshare companies, that decreases yearly, and ends 5 years from now"? Otherwise, I see the following sequence of events: (1) people get screwed by technological upheaval -> (2) people become resentful against technological progress -> (3) people vote in politicians / laws that retard technological progress, to the detriment of all
  - claydavisss 8y ago
    No no no. People who overpaid for medallions gambled and lost. It is not my problem to subsidize. Why not also subsidize traders who lose on a stock? If you want a society where people can't lose then you also get a society where no one wins.
    - projectileboy 8y ago
      I wouldn’t necessarily say you’re wrong, but (at least in the US) we have a long history of taxpayer-subsidized bailouts for the very wealthy who take gambles and lose (e.g., 80s S&L crisis, but there are countless others). It’s an interesting and unfortunate cultural aspect of America that we really, really hate the poor, and seek to hold them accountable for their actions to a degree that we simply don’t do for the well-off.
      - betteroffchuck 8y ago
        Poverty is the Lord's way of anointing the sinners for the righteous to cull. Ephesians 1:11 “In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will.” The parts of US culture I am familiar with blur the lines between godliness and wealth pretty far. It is a common belief that the poor are being justly punished for their sins, and that only good things happen to good people.
      - sitkack 8y ago
        Because betterofchuck is not with us anymore, I have copied his comment, which I think is important for a myriad of reasons. Predominantly because _this is how america works_, we punish, we do not fix. ---- Poverty is the Lord's way of anointing the sinners for the righteous to cull. Ephesians 1:11 “In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will.” The parts of US culture I am familiar with blur the lines between godliness and wealth pretty far. It is a common belief that the poor are being justly punished for their sins, and that only good things happen to good people.
        salawat 8y ago
        That is... A horrible reading of that passage. It completely cherry picked and pulled it out of context. From the Today's English Version, Paul's Letter to the Ephesians: Chapter 1, verses 1-11 From Paul, who by God's will is an apostle of Christ Jesus-- To God's people in Ephesus, who are faithfulin their life in union with Christ Jesus. 2-) May God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ give you grace and peace. 3-) Let us give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! For in our union with Christ he has blessed us by giving us every spiritual blessing in the heavenly world. 4-) Even before the world was made, God had chosen us to be his through our union with Christ, so that we would be holy and without fault before him, because of his love. 5-) God had already decided that through Jesus Christ he would make us his children--this was his pleasure and purpose. 6-) Let us praise God for his glorious grace, for the free gift he gave us in his dear Son! 7-) For by the blood of Christ we are set free, that is, our sins are forgiven. How great is the grace of God, 8-) which he gave to us in such large measure! In all his wisdom and insight 9-) God did what he had purposed, and made known to us the secret plan he had already decided to complete by means of Christ. 10-) This plan,which God will complete when the time is right, is to bring all creation together, everything in heaven and on earth, with Christ as head. 11-) All things are done according to God's plan and decision; and God chose us to be his own people in Union with Christ because of his own purpose based on what he had decided from the very beginning. Nothing in there screams "poverty is an affliction God amounts on the sinner." You might get a hint of it around verse 14, but that verse is contingent on the Spirit granting complete freedom to the faithful. The entire section is a call to praise God. I don't know who this betterofchuck is, but he seems to have a penchant for cherrypicking verse to fit his argument. His interpretation is outright sickening, and bordering on the blasphemous. Also, America DOES tend to see destitution as a self-inflicted condition, but the main way in which disgust is usually elicited is by the perception of those destitute who refuse to find a way to better themselves. A central American value is to FIGHT for one's own liberty, not to grovel at the feet of others to have it delivered. This disgust can be elicited just as easily by the wealthy as well. Show me someone who makes an honest effort at lifting themselves up, and I'll show you someone living up to the American ideal. It isn't pretty, but in my life, THAT is how America has worked.
  - DEADBEEFC0FFEE 8y ago
    In Sydney, Australia, they slapped on a tax to uber, to compensate the taxis. I can't remember the details, possibly time bound.
  - hueving 8y ago
    That's what bankruptcy is for. You get to start over after making crappy debt bets (unless it's a student loan).

mschuster91 8y ago

> It blows my mind that taxi drivers would defend this system and not flee to Uber/Lyft/etc. For those who defend the system, often enough the medallions are their life saving / insurance when they get old, and almost always financed by loans. The medallions going worthless at the same time invalidates their retirement plans and STILL leaves them on the hook for the loan.

ethbro 8y ago
This is something that's made me think a lot about the health care debate. Would it not be just that, if we're going to rewrite the economic rules in some areas, we give partial compensation towards those we just screwed over? Presumably we're changing the rules because of progress (e.g. Uber and Lyft showing on-demand rideshare has a market), which is good for everyone. But say the human lifespan is 85 years +/-. 25 years for education to post-secondary graduation (e.g. bachelor's degree in US). Probably another 2-5 years of accumulating working capital for your venture. So there's a set number of "shots" a person gets in their life. In this instance, what's wrong with saying "We're doing away with the medallion system. Existing medallions will be repurchased by the government at a price proportional to ownership time. Funding will be accomplished by a tax on rideshare companies, that decreases yearly, and ends 5 years from now"? Otherwise, I see the following sequence of events: (1) people get screwed by technological upheaval -> (2) people become resentful against technological progress -> (3) people vote in politicians / laws that retard technological progress, to the detriment of all
- claydavisss 8y ago
  No no no. People who overpaid for medallions gambled and lost. It is not my problem to subsidize. Why not also subsidize traders who lose on a stock? If you want a society where people can't lose then you also get a society where no one wins.
  - projectileboy 8y ago
    I wouldn’t necessarily say you’re wrong, but (at least in the US) we have a long history of taxpayer-subsidized bailouts for the very wealthy who take gambles and lose (e.g., 80s S&L crisis, but there are countless others). It’s an interesting and unfortunate cultural aspect of America that we really, really hate the poor, and seek to hold them accountable for their actions to a degree that we simply don’t do for the well-off.
    - betteroffchuck 8y ago
      Poverty is the Lord's way of anointing the sinners for the righteous to cull. Ephesians 1:11 “In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will.” The parts of US culture I am familiar with blur the lines between godliness and wealth pretty far. It is a common belief that the poor are being justly punished for their sins, and that only good things happen to good people.
    - sitkack 8y ago
      Because betterofchuck is not with us anymore, I have copied his comment, which I think is important for a myriad of reasons. Predominantly because _this is how america works_, we punish, we do not fix. ---- Poverty is the Lord's way of anointing the sinners for the righteous to cull. Ephesians 1:11 “In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will.” The parts of US culture I am familiar with blur the lines between godliness and wealth pretty far. It is a common belief that the poor are being justly punished for their sins, and that only good things happen to good people.
      - salawat 8y ago
        That is... A horrible reading of that passage. It completely cherry picked and pulled it out of context. From the Today's English Version, Paul's Letter to the Ephesians: Chapter 1, verses 1-11 From Paul, who by God's will is an apostle of Christ Jesus-- To God's people in Ephesus, who are faithfulin their life in union with Christ Jesus. 2-) May God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ give you grace and peace. 3-) Let us give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! For in our union with Christ he has blessed us by giving us every spiritual blessing in the heavenly world. 4-) Even before the world was made, God had chosen us to be his through our union with Christ, so that we would be holy and without fault before him, because of his love. 5-) God had already decided that through Jesus Christ he would make us his children--this was his pleasure and purpose. 6-) Let us praise God for his glorious grace, for the free gift he gave us in his dear Son! 7-) For by the blood of Christ we are set free, that is, our sins are forgiven. How great is the grace of God, 8-) which he gave to us in such large measure! In all his wisdom and insight 9-) God did what he had purposed, and made known to us the secret plan he had already decided to complete by means of Christ. 10-) This plan,which God will complete when the time is right, is to bring all creation together, everything in heaven and on earth, with Christ as head. 11-) All things are done according to God's plan and decision; and God chose us to be his own people in Union with Christ because of his own purpose based on what he had decided from the very beginning. Nothing in there screams "poverty is an affliction God amounts on the sinner." You might get a hint of it around verse 14, but that verse is contingent on the Spirit granting complete freedom to the faithful. The entire section is a call to praise God. I don't know who this betterofchuck is, but he seems to have a penchant for cherrypicking verse to fit his argument. His interpretation is outright sickening, and bordering on the blasphemous. Also, America DOES tend to see destitution as a self-inflicted condition, but the main way in which disgust is usually elicited is by the perception of those destitute who refuse to find a way to better themselves. A central American value is to FIGHT for one's own liberty, not to grovel at the feet of others to have it delivered. This disgust can be elicited just as easily by the wealthy as well. Show me someone who makes an honest effort at lifting themselves up, and I'll show you someone living up to the American ideal. It isn't pretty, but in my life, THAT is how America has worked.
- DEADBEEFC0FFEE 8y ago
  In Sydney, Australia, they slapped on a tax to uber, to compensate the taxis. I can't remember the details, possibly time bound.
- hueving 8y ago
  That's what bankruptcy is for. You get to start over after making crappy debt bets (unless it's a student loan).