Post by High Priestess on May 22, 2016 17:06:10 GMT
I saw this in the news, about Chicago Airbnb rentals:
www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20160521/ISSUE05/305219992/before-regulating-airbnb-chicago-aldermen-need-to-gauge-who-loses-in
and another: www.chicagotribune.com/business/columnists/ct-rosenthal-airbnb-chicago-0522-biz-20160520-column.html
EXCERPT::
"Let's start with the obvious. Though Uber and Lyft and Airbnb talk all the time about all the little people they help— ---Rent your unused bedroom for cash! Pick up a few extra bucks driving when you want!—----the much bigger winners are the 1%, the insiders who invested in and own the companies.
Uber is valued at an estimated $62.5 billion, more than the market cap of Ford Motor or General Motors. Airbnb, by comparison, is a piker, valued at a mere $24 billion, according to the Wall Street Journal. And like any big successful company, both know how to throw their weight around by buying politicians, engaging lobbyists and retaining ace media spinners to get the right coverage.
Their goal is obvious: to operate in the type of libertarian dream world, free of nasty labor unions and government regulations, that the Koch brothers cherish. Just you and that big old company, with you free to go elsewhere if it treats you wrong.
This country, of course, was founded on the principle of free enterprise: Let everyone compete to offer the best product at the lowest price. If Uber can offer a better product than local taxicab companies, so be it. And if it can arrange for more rides in low-income minority neighborhoods than the competition, good for it.
But there will be losers, such as cabbies who no longer can compete and will have to give up their livelihood and, sometimes, their life's investment. And none of those Uber drivers is going to get rich. As my colleague recently reported, take-home pay after expenses often turns out to be $9 to $12 an hour."
www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20160521/ISSUE05/305219992/before-regulating-airbnb-chicago-aldermen-need-to-gauge-who-loses-in
and another: www.chicagotribune.com/business/columnists/ct-rosenthal-airbnb-chicago-0522-biz-20160520-column.html
EXCERPT::
"Let's start with the obvious. Though Uber and Lyft and Airbnb talk all the time about all the little people they help— ---Rent your unused bedroom for cash! Pick up a few extra bucks driving when you want!—----the much bigger winners are the 1%, the insiders who invested in and own the companies.
Uber is valued at an estimated $62.5 billion, more than the market cap of Ford Motor or General Motors. Airbnb, by comparison, is a piker, valued at a mere $24 billion, according to the Wall Street Journal. And like any big successful company, both know how to throw their weight around by buying politicians, engaging lobbyists and retaining ace media spinners to get the right coverage.
Their goal is obvious: to operate in the type of libertarian dream world, free of nasty labor unions and government regulations, that the Koch brothers cherish. Just you and that big old company, with you free to go elsewhere if it treats you wrong.
This country, of course, was founded on the principle of free enterprise: Let everyone compete to offer the best product at the lowest price. If Uber can offer a better product than local taxicab companies, so be it. And if it can arrange for more rides in low-income minority neighborhoods than the competition, good for it.
But there will be losers, such as cabbies who no longer can compete and will have to give up their livelihood and, sometimes, their life's investment. And none of those Uber drivers is going to get rich. As my colleague recently reported, take-home pay after expenses often turns out to be $9 to $12 an hour."