[s54b32dd]

>I do not believe Uber should have to treat all of its drivers as employees.

I think they should, because currently it's very hard to live a life as an uninsured contract worker unless you are married to someone with health insurance.

I think the ultimate solution to this is to do away with distinctions between W-2 and 1099-MISC income, and really only have investment income vs. wage income.

[greggyb]

Not all of Uber's drivers are "full time." UberX and its similar offerings are open to anyone with a car who wants to give a ride.

The incredible value of Uber and similar is not that they are a better way to hail a traditional cab. That is not disruptive, and doesn't create huge value. At most a better way to hail traditional taxis smooths the process a little bit.

The huge value that Uber and similar create is in allowing a very low friction means to utilize the millions of private cars that otherwise carry few people and sit idle >90% of the time. This provides value to drivers (defray an expensive and largely fixed cost) and to riders (higher availability than traditional taxis). This value-add is primarily due to the low friction to providing marginal rides.

If every driver is an employee, then you destroy the marginal ride benefit and turn Uber and its ilk into just another traditional taxi service, just with a better hailing app.