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> Uber is just capitalism, in its most naked form. Considering that the workers own the means of production, this is a curious thing to say.
by elwin 12y ago
> Uber is just capitalism, in its most naked form.
Considering that the workers own the means of production, this is a curious thing to say.
- xorcist 12y agoThey don't, as the app is the magic sauce. It's where all the bookings will be, if things turn out the way Uber and Lyft valutations are based on.
- humanrebar 12y agoOwning your own time, money, resources, and equipment is very capitalist. There's nothing about capitalism that requires centralized control of anything. It's just classical liberal philosophy applied to economics... individual rights should include property rights.
- elwin 12y agoThat's true, but my point was that it's odd for the article to portray Uber as the exploitative capitalist when Uber does not own the capital.
- humanrebar 12y agoAh. I just find "means of production" to be an anachronistic term that presumes something like a Marxist worldview, but I guess that was your intention.
- rmc 12y agoThe workers very much do not control production.
- avn2109 12y agoThe article's essential claim is that the workers do not own the means of production in any meaningful sense, despite the careful legal fictions to the contrary. The claim is that Uber et al have developed a way to own the upsides (aka positive cash flows) associated with the means of production, while externalizing the downsides (repair bills, depreciation, insurance, bodily harm from accidents, etc) onto the workers. And even in a strictly limited literal sense, the cars are bought on credit, so the bank owns them.
- misuba 12y agoOwning a car and being available to drive doesn't "produce" a fare, though. Only Uber's app can do that.
- cheald 12y agoThe service being purchased is transportation; the driver is the one who owns the means of production of that service.