I think this completely glosses over the uncomfortable fact that uber is a billion dollar VC backed company that operates by: 1) Targeting a market with establ

I think this completely glosses over the uncomfortable fact that uber is a billion dollar VC backed company that operates by: 1) Targeting a market with established taxi companies offering a legally regulated service requiring background checks, insurance, and driving/car safety standards. 2) Illegally setting up an unregulated competing taxi service which relies on the local police/elite being unable/unwilling(bribed) to enforce the existing taxi regulations in light of the size and effort uber puts into its racket. In the process it hires up anyone willing to do it, regardless of if their car is safe, they are actually a good driver or not, meet the insurance requirements of a taxi driver, and so on. 3) Pushing taxi drivers out of work because they can't compete with the obviously cheaper illegal competitor. 4) Hiring many of these now unemployed taxi drivers up as gig workers and paying them far less than they got before for doing a legal job. This is their model and it is outright exploitative. It is literally just using money to wantonly break the law and rig a market. It is also pretty much what Airbnb and a lot of other silicon valley firms have been up to in recent years, since they obviously ran out of actual innovation to sell.