[toomuchtodo]

Oh man, I thought it was so that my drinking water is clean, my roads are safe, and that I'm treated fairly when I purchase goods or services in my community.

Thanks for clearing that up for me.

EDIT: "Or did this comment add nothing to conversation? I won't be commenting again."

No. It did not add to the conversation. While I will agree that, at times, laws are lobbied for that attempt to maintain the status quo, the vast majority of laws are to keep society in an acceptable equilibrium (i.e. my rights end where your rights begin).

[awj]

Those things are all status quo, do you want clean water or innovation? Because apparently in some people's realities you can't have both.

[BrainInAJar]

There is literally nothing innovative about AirBnB or Uber. It's just "The Hilton App" or "The Checkered Cabs App", except that they break hotel & taxi law respectively

[awj]

No, there really isn't anything innovative about them. I doubt that will stop HN comments from crying "Won't someone think of the INNOVATION" when confronted with regulations to produce an impediment to something they want.

[toomuchtodo]

I would say their pricing models are much more dynamic, but that's because they're just middle men and aren't responsible for the supply side (except providing incentives to increase supply, not actually providing capital, management, etc).

[BrainInAJar]

Right but dynamic pricing is precisely why taxicabs are as regulated as they are. It costs you the same amount to get from the Airport downtown on a Friday night as it does Tuesday at midday. And you the tourist know how much it'll cost you when you get there, because the price is regulated.

[toomuchtodo]

> It costs you the same amount to get from the Airport downtown on a Friday night as it does Tuesday at midday.

Only in a world with unlimited supply. When demand peaks, you'll either have the price increased ("surge pricing") or people will have to go without when supply can't mean demand.