How exactly would Mike Bloomberg “f#@king destroy” the taxi industry?

Quartz – by Tim Fernholz

New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg told the head of a taxicab fleet that he plans to “f#@king destroy” the city’s taxi industry when he leaves office on January 1. Bloomberg’s frustration with New York’s yellow cabs and their drivers stems from their unwillingness to adopt new technology such as accepting electronic passenger hails from smartphones, and their resistance to one of the mayor’s pet projects, a redesigned Taxi of Tomorrow.  

There aren’t a lot of people who can credibly threaten to upend an entire microeconomy. The mayor is a billionaire, though, and he might just have the wherewithal to make it happen. So how might he go about it?

Well, first, when Bloomberg says “destroy,” we’re going to presume creative destruction, not physical annihilation. (It’s not that he couldn’t literally wipe out the taxi industry—with his $27 billion in personal wealth, he could undoubtedly afford the requisite military hardware—but even the famously direct Bloomberg might consider such a method unsubtle.) But isn’t car-service app Uber, which lets users order a cab, see on a map how far away it is, and pay for it, all through their phones, already going to disrupt the hidebound taxi industry?

Well, probably not while it’s so expensive (although, in my personal experience, the cheaper UberX option has proven cheaper than Los Angeles taxis). More importantly, though, Uber still faces an enormous challenge as long as paid automotive transportation is heavily regulated by public officials under the sway of a concentrated bloc of self-interested small-business owners riding in culturally significant yellow sedans. Uber, along with competitors like Zimride, exists in a regulatory grey area that officials from New York to San Francisco are trying close down, and while they may claim—with some justification—to be worried about consumer safety, a lot of the rules in mind, like banning lighter, eco-friendly cars or using GPS to calculate fares, clearly don’t have safety as their first concern.

Still, the laws that have allowed cabbies to block Mayor Bloomberg’s top-down technocratic paternalism while in office are the same ones that keep Uber from disrupting the the hired car sector from below. So if Bloomberg is serious about this smashing-the-yellow-cab-monopoly thing—and please, let him be—what does he have that Uber doesn’t? The answer is the distinguishing feature of his entire political career, from the shift in party allegiance that marked his first mayoral run to his quixotic campaign to enact gun safety rules: His firm belief that money well-deployed can buy any political outcome. And, of course, that $27 billion.

A heavily regulated marketplace creates high barriers to entry, but sufficient capital can break through them. Uber has raised $50 million since 2010, and while it doesn’t release revenue figures, it’s clearly in a precarious position when it comes to fighting regulatory lawsuits and city rule-makers. But a Bloomberg-funded trade group, with publicists, lobbyists and lawyers could open the legal doors, while Uber and the like force mobile efficiencies into the sector.

And then the market will provide all the destruction a megalomaniacal billionaire could want.

http://qz.com/88091/how-exactly-would-mike-bloomberg-fucking-destroy-the-taxi-industry/

25 thoughts on “How exactly would Mike Bloomberg “f#@king destroy” the taxi industry?”

  1. Why no one in NYC has buried this Bloominidiot by now is wwwwwaaaayyy beyond me. I think Wall St. and the NYPD are the only ones who support this piece of shit.

    Reply

  3. It’s bad I’ll give you that, but try California’s Fein-Pelo-Box on for some real neo treason tactics. Climate Change, 2nd A. , Carbon Tax, high speed rail, underground water tunnels, a brand spanking new beautiful looking bay bridge with rusted structural integrity problems, Rollling out their own Obamacare tied to the DSM-5, Electronic Health Records, NCIC, fios splitters, Gun Control, we got water meters, smart meters, (is the MTBE still in the Gas?) The ICLEI & crew has hundreds of bills to declare this a national forest no go zone, the 100 mile no constitution zone, and a corporate media who tells the public stories about, Michael Jackson (yesterday!), burning cats, cute cats, cute dogs, teen limo graduation party whatevers, and if they mention anything important it’s more brief than the 15 minutes of commercials followed by how the news comes first or similar themes on news you can count on, news you can trust, how good each member of the new team is, a weatherman on each who says nothing about anomalies right on the SCREEN he points at. I notice most news segements now try to avoid filming(film? Digital) the SKY so no chemtrails are in the frame.

    There are proxies that carry this crap out and take the fall for their leaders. Nobody ever get’s prosecuted, the election system is completely corrupted with electronics, broken chains of custody, but just “trust us” they say.

    Well I don’t trust dual citizen Israli/US asshats pressing for grabbing firearms. I don’t trust the secretary of state’s election results (the pages go 404 after awhile) State websites have problems, glitches, they USE GOOGLE FOR SEARCH on their own websites! (think about that!) You can’t find the current legislation they work on cause it’s in PDF’s with NUMBERS for the file name, no index, no descriptions, no search engine that can penetrate TIFF scanned pdf’s, 404 errors, Cold Fusion path exposure errors.

    I sympathize with east coast.

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  4. …wouldn’t it be great if Bloomberg was one of the first convicted of treason for his role in helping to plan, execute and cover up 911….? Hang his ass first at the new national monument…The National Gallows for American Values… hang his ass with the rest of the traitors in this country…Obama…Bush…Cheney…Gore…The Clinton’s….convict all of them of treason…convict their familes of generational treason…convict all of them and begin hanging them at Ground Zero…911…confiscate all of their wealth…hang their kids…after conviction in order to cut off entire generational lines of succession….convict and hang them all….starting with Bloomberg..the traitor…

    Regards,

    RJ O’Guillory
    Author-
    Webster Groves-The Life of an Insane Family

    Reply

      1. He forgot the pack of cigs, crammed you know where, that NC and I both want first dibs at lighting.

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          3. It related to a past story (don’t remember which one, I’ve slept since then) that we all were commenting on. Someone said that they were surprised Bloomie hadn’t already been hung from a street light… and we all took the ball from there. 🙂
            (Good thing I didn’t use the British term for cigarette. That would have really confused you. LOL)

          4. P.S. Actually I`m running really slow today Angel. Must be the weather change around here it is cold, rainy, crappy type of weather ya know.

          6. It is here, also. Yuck! Hubby’s joints and bones have been “talking to him.” I’m sure yours are, too. Perfect couple of days to just stay in bed. Take it slow and easy, diggerdan. That’s what we’re doing. :/

          7. Yes it is. I have been useing DMSO roll on for bone and joint pain combined with ibuprophen and KavaKava rt and valerian/passion flower caps, does the trick for me, it just gets me all laid back don`t ya know and then I don`t do anything but sit and get philosophical LOL 🙂 .

          9. LOL yes Angel 🙂 . I got DMSO in a jell for aches and pain and also I got DMSO in a roll on application. When I use it I use the roll on for foint applicatin and the jell for like long muscle use. I know it works for me because i is absorbed so fast that I can actually feel it work with in a few min. My roll on DMSO is from the company called – Natures Gift – from DMSO Marketing, Inc. P.O. Box 439, Ghent, KY 41045 . Ph # is 1-800-367-6935.

  5. … I know places in San Fran where the phrase “sparking a fag” has a completely different interpretation…not that there’s anything wrong with either habit you know…from what I hear….(Ha!)…:) although if you read my memoir, I do seem to recall people in my neighborhood…..British folks in the hood I recall….

    Regards,

    RJ O’Guillory
    Author-
    Webster Groves-The Life of an Insane Family

    Reply

    1. Yes, as in my ‘hood. LOL The phrase takes on an entirely Different interpretation. (especially in June)

      Reply

    1. Anything to be of help Angel. Actualy I bought mine at Mother Natures Health Food Store, That ph. # and address is just the manufacture. It is a good product though. Yes, I can imagine how your hubby is feeling. I Hope you guys are feeling good………… By the way everyone HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY WEEK END 🙂

      Reply

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