[moosedman]

It's a lot. Think about it this way with taxis. That was an economy that prior to ride-sharing stayed entirely within the local economy. Now there is a giant funnel the takes most of that money and funnels it to Silicon Valley and investors. That money exits the local economy for the most part now. And take this and apply it to everything tech.

[Ekaros]

Food delivery is an other great example. Companies extract huge cut, people doing the hardest work are not significantly rewarded. And in the end whole thing have at least some if not significant challenges in sustaining itself.

[user90131313]

So we get a better service and give it to wealth inequality. It's like how they built US cities for cars. Ways change but formula is simple?

[muzani]

I hated taxis lol. I don't like ridesharing companies either, but taxi companies where I lived were a cartel. Taxi groups would camp at train stations and greatly overprice beyond what was legal. I believe even in the US, there were things like taxi medallions and a whole economy around medallion loans which really don't sound like they contribute to equality.

I was also a big fan of Uber in its time, and drivers would tell me stories of how they quit a job at the factory so they could be better paid driving Uber. One guy even quit his bank manager job because it paid that well, but sadly he is now a victim of enshittification.

Gig work also resulted in gentrification of large areas, because work was actually there. It was something to do after hours. Crime dropped in some places because it was easier than robbing someone.

I'm not entirely optimistic this is how it will be; centralized power is dangerous and AI will mess things up badly. But for recent data, I feel like it's helped inequality a lot.