4 ms·
> Every time I take a ride, I feel bad for how little the driver's getting paid. Presumably you still eat out, enjoy clean bathrooms, eat fruit, or live and wo
by hyperbovine 12y ago
> Every time I take a ride, I feel bad for how little the driver's getting paid.
Presumably you still eat out, enjoy clean bathrooms, eat fruit, or live and work inside of a building? If American capitalism is a well-oiled machine, unsustainably cheap labor is its lubricant. This debate is well worth having, but in no way is it specific to Uber.
- jrockway 12y agoI really don't want to digress into an amateur economics thread, but here goes. American capitalism has some problems. The cost of goods, while reflecting the value added, also has the cost of externalities extracted. The cost of the cab ride may include gas and equipment depreciation, but may not include the cost of the driver's family not having the opportunity to find a better lot in life. Maybe it all works out fine; I don't know. But I'm guessing people with minimum wage jobs are not setting their own price for their work, but rather society is conspiring against them to convince them to work for less than their actual cost. (Does the average child of a single mother who works at McDonalds go to college and become a lawyer? Why not? Shouldn't they have that chance, even if it means your cheeseburger costs a dollar more?) End digression.