[c22]

Uber is just a different rent seeker, though. Over time the situation will likely just keep getting worse until it is as bad as the system it is replacing (many things about the ride-sharing ecosystem are already not great...)

While it's always nice to see a broken rent-seeking system in our world become eroded we should not laude the transfer to another fiat regency.

[isoskeles]

Rent-seeking means, roughly, trying to extract wealth without creating any wealth.

Creating and maintaining software that connects a person with a device to a driver with a device and routes them from point A (driver) => A' (person) => B (destination) isn't some trivial nothing that you can just rent-seek into existence. I believe 'wealth' was added to the economy that did not previously exist when people had to deal with hailing cab drivers, not have a map of their route, and not know an approximation of their fare ahead of time.

[908B64B197]

And payment processing.

Remember the sign on cabs that said they accept all major cards, only to find out the "card reader doesn't work?".

[omginternets]

>Remember the sign on cabs that said they accept all major cards, only to find out the "card reader doesn't work?".

Do I?! It's still commonplace! I have lost every ounce of sympathy I ever held for taxi drivers.

[PoignardAzur]

Even if we accept that claim, at least Uber has to compete with other VTC apps, which limits its rent-extracting capacity.

[portpecos]

By that statement, you can claim TaskRabbit and the like are also rent-seekers.

[c22]

Yes.