
The secret to the Uber economy is wealth inequality - ot
http://qz.com/312537/the-secret-to-the-uber-economy-is-wealth-inequality/?hn=1
======
Chevalier
"These luxuries are not new. I took advantage of them long before Uber became
a verb, before the world saw the first iPhone in 2007, even before the first
submarine fibre-optic cable landed on our shores in 1997. In my hometown of
Mumbai, we have had many of these conveniences for at least as long as we have
had landlines—and some even earlier than that."

Okay, putting "Uber" in your headline does not make your article worth
reading. This article correctly states that in poor countries, there are
abundant poor people willing to work very hard for very little money. Live-in
maids are quite common in India. Laborers are quite cheap in Latin America. It
is not good that so many people are so desperate for work.

THAT SAID. This concept is tangentially related to Uber -- in that the "flex
economy" screws over workers -- but the idea of an on-demand taxi service has
nothing to do with exploitation. Municipal taxis screw over their drivers far
more than Uber ever has. If anything Uber/Lyft/etc. empower the driver to take
a great cut of the pay for his valuable services, and to shop around between
employers for the best deal.

Also, please submit links with actual content beyond the word "Uber" and the
idea that "exploitation is bad." This article doesn't even attempt to link the
two ideas.

------
PaulHoule
It's really about the service economy, or rather, the low end of the service
economy.

With the manufacturing economy it was possible for the maker of a Ford to own
a house and a Ford, but it is hard to break even by working at a day care
center if your kids are in day care.

For all the hate some people have towards Mexican immigrants, the Southern
California lifestyle and the agricultural miracle of the Central Valley would
dry up and blow away if illegal immigration were stemmed.

Sao Paolo is a bit like Los Angeles, but has a much higher level of service
economy. You go to an ordinary pizza restaurant and the people will serve you
each slice and refill your wine glasses and it costs about as much as a
discount pizza and no bottle of wine in the U.S.

~~~
toomuchtodo
> For all the hate some people have towards Mexican immigrants, the Southern
> California lifestyle and the agricultural miracle of the Central Valley
> would dry up and blow away if illegal immigration were stemmed.

There's nothing wrong with that. We don't shed tears that we had to be more
efficient picking cotton because we did away with slavery.

------
ot
A previous submission from 5 hours ago is dead:

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8757053](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8757053)

Was it flagged? If so why?

[EDIT] Looks like the user is banned

~~~
DanBC
Look at the other submissions from that user.

