

The Case Against Sharing - zorpner
https://medium.com/the-nib/the-case-against-sharing-9ea5ba3d216d

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brownbat
[AirBNB, Uber, Craigslist sellers, ...] have "a steamroller approach to laws
and regulations that protect workers and consumers"

That begs the central question.

It'd be a clearer case of preserving consumer and worker rights if cities
weren't haranguing Uber over insurance while ignoring the comparatively paltry
coverage offered by local taxi companies:
[http://blog.uber.com/uberXridesharinginsurance](http://blog.uber.com/uberXridesharinginsurance)

Tesla's not part of the "sharing economy," but it's another disruptive model
that chafes against legacy regulations.

Most of us are sympathetic with Tesla's fight against the dealers because we
see the regulations as utterly irrational, even if they were protecting
against injustices 50 years ago. Or maybe we're unsympathetic to dealers
because we've been screwed by one. Either way, we find it difficult or
laughable to see franchises as a tool ensuring consumer protection and fair
play.

The sticking point, of course, is that you can't let every company be its own
arbiter of what laws are reasonable and which are not.

------
api
This is typical of the emerging tech-criticism genre on the so-called left.

It raises some very valid points: job security or lack thereof, lack of
protections if something goes wrong, etc. But it doesn't offer a solution.
These pieces _never_ offer a solution. That's because they don't have one.
Instead they degenerate into vague pining for the good old days.

... like the good old days of taxi medallions, a closed and corrupt insiders
club that excludes the vast majority from entry while artificially inflating
transportation prices for those who don't have a car readily available.

They also drop plenty of dog whistle terms like "neoliberal" just to make sure
you know who the bad guys are. The bad guys of course are the ones doing new
things and being _successful_ at it. (gasp! success!)

It's part of why IMHO there actually are no liberals on the contemporary
scene. There are just different kinds of conservatives.

It's trivially easy to criticize anything. Do you have a better idea? If not,
we're done.

