> perhaps we could have put the violent cabbies in jail too, but would that be better for society Of course, because breaking laws isn't respectable and those

> perhaps we could have put the violent cabbies in jail too, but would that be better for society Of course, because breaking laws isn't respectable and those cabbies were just lawless crooks who weren't playing by the same rules everyone else had to. > regulation designed to balance the supply / demand curve Yeah, except that for the last decades that "balance" meant drivers (who for the most part did not own medallions) had to pay to work, by renting a medallion from actual crooks like Gene Freidman (aka Taxi King), who made millions from it. This is the balance that those rules were defending: https://www.nytimes.com/1995/04/09/nyregion/driving-a-taxi-difficult-in-best-of-times-gets-tougher.html https://www.nytimes.com/1995/04/09/nyregion/driving-a-taxi-d... Maybe some non-violent law breaking is needed to escape that shitty local maximum.