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The Sharing Economy Was Dead on Arrival

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Re: The Sharing Economy Was Dead on Arrival

#21

The movie Sorry to Bother You has a satirical look at the sharing economy gone awry. In the movie a controversial company called WorryFree exists that promises lifelong security where people willingly become slaves to live in dorms and survive without worry but for free. The movie is excellent.

Sounds interesting. The description of WorryFree reminds me of Brave New World.

Re: The Sharing Economy Was Dead on Arrival

#22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The job market might have been terrible 5 years ago, but this is not the case today. 3.7% unemployment in the U.S. Lowest since 1969.

It's kind of funny that most of the people that recognized that the headline unemployment number wasn't a complete picture of the job market when Obama was President have somehow forgotten that since late January of 2017.

Even if you look at those number they seem to be improving or relatively stable. Like it or not, the job market is getting better.

EDIT: I don't mean to say that's due or not due to anyone being in or out of office, you can observe those market trends dating back several years at least. Interest rate increases may put a setback on this growth going forward though, definitely something to watch.

Re: The Sharing Economy Was Dead on Arrival

#23

> Why didn’t we see it coming? How did sharing economy companies manage to evade scrutiny for so long? Plenty of people saw it coming. As much as fellow members of my generation enthusiastically embraced the sharing/gig economy for survival, most of them acknowledged that the companies were in the end going to be worse. They were just less worse than having no income. Those that thought this were the future were just…

The job market might have been terrible 5 years ago, but this is not the case today. 3.7% unemployment in the U.S. Lowest since 1969.

Benjamin Disraeli: "There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics."

Re: The Sharing Economy Was Dead on Arrival

#24
The basic premise of the article seems sound, that money corrupted an arrangement that might otherwise be innocent.

Uber / Lyft were upgrades to Craiglist ads for rides / carpools - more convenient for riders, and drivers make a few bucks taking someone somewhere they were going anyway.

AirBnB was a way for travelers to access a more "charming" experience, maybe a little more conveniently than booking a hotel/BnB or scanning CL ads for rooms for rent.

Where they went wrong was professionalization, i.e. people driving full-time or renting for the income.

That's when it became obvious that Uber/Lyft was actually a taxi company and AirBnB a rental broker.

In fairness, if in certain cities (NYC) taxis weren't intentionally managed to scarcity, Uber/Lyft probably would have had more difficulty gaining traction.

Nor would I begrudge a homeowner making a little money boarding guests.

But of course the economic opportunity proved too much for too many to resist, which is why we have the problems mentioned in the article.

Re: The Sharing Economy Was Dead on Arrival

#25
The sharing economy works because of the American tendency to own/buy way more capacity that is usually required. People own cars but don't use them all the time or people buy extra rooms for their homes for the two times a year they have visitors. People saw this untapped capacity and exploited it. We should encourage better utilization of resources assuming the proper regulations are in place to do so.

Re: The Sharing Economy Was Dead on Arrival

#26

The movie Sorry to Bother You has a satirical look at the sharing economy gone awry. In the movie a controversial company called WorryFree exists that promises lifelong security where people willingly become slaves to live in dorms and survive without worry but for free. The movie is excellent.

How is it a look at the sharing economy in particular? It was a satirical take on modern capitalism, sure, but I didn't see how WorryFree was supposed to remind you of a person working a contracting job such as an Uber driver. Quite the opposite in fact, the employees of WorryFree seemed to be signing up for lifelong, permanent and inflexible employment terms. Uber drivers may get a raw deal but surely one would acknowledge at least that they have more flexibility w.r.t. when and where they work than the other typical jobs in a capitalist economy.

Re: The Sharing Economy Was Dead on Arrival

#27
post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's kind of funny that most of the people that recognized that the headline unemployment number wasn't a complete picture of the job market when Obama was President have somehow forgotten that since late January of 2017.

Every time the ruling party switches, followers of both parties warp into parallel universes with entirely different realities. Same thing happens for Democrats and their opinions of foreign military adventures. It's an unnecessary war when a Republican is in office, but it's a "peacekeeping mission" or a "humanitarian mission" when a Democrat is in office.

Opinion polling doesn't support your neat "both sides do it" narrative:

> In 2013, when Barack Obama was president, a Washington Post-ABC News poll found that only 22 percent of Republicans supported the U.S. launching missile strikes against Syria in response to Bashar al-Assad using chemical weapons against civilians.

> A new Post-ABC poll finds that 86 percent of Republicans support Donald Trump’s decision to launch strikes on Syria for the same reason. Only 11 percent are opposed.

> The Post-ABC poll indicates somewhat greater consistency on the part of Democrats. Some 37 percent of them back Trump’s strike, compared to a statistically indistinguishable 38 percent who backed a strike in 2013.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/201...

Re: The Sharing Economy Was Dead on Arrival

#28

> Why didn’t we see it coming? How did sharing economy companies manage to evade scrutiny for so long? Plenty of people saw it coming. As much as fellow members of my generation enthusiastically embraced the sharing/gig economy for survival, most of them acknowledged that the companies were in the end going to be worse. They were just less worse than having no income. Those that thought this were the future were just…

The job market might have been terrible 5 years ago, but this is not the case today. 3.7% unemployment in the U.S. Lowest since 1969.

The US is a big place, and there's plenty of localities within it where that 3.7% figure might as well be in a foreign country.

Re: The Sharing Economy Was Dead on Arrival

#29
post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's kind of funny that most of the people that recognized that the headline unemployment number wasn't a complete picture of the job market when Obama was President have somehow forgotten that since late January of 2017.

Every time the ruling party switches, followers of both parties warp into parallel universes with entirely different realities. Same thing happens for Democrats and their opinions of foreign military adventures. It's an unnecessary war when a Republican is in office, but it's a "peacekeeping mission" or a "humanitarian mission" when a Democrat is in office.

No they don't. You are just presenting false equivalence while ignoring the magnitude of the reality distortion field that republicans push with no close equivalent from democrats.

- Name a 10 year war democrats have championed... - Name a democrat that questions the legitimacy of employment numbers or the objectivity of the data being provided... - Name an rejection of scientific consensus like Global Warming (and before you say anti-vaxxers, that is not a mainstream democrat policy like Global Warming denial is...again, no false equivalence please)... - Name a democrat zombie policy like "trickle down economics" that keeps being proven wrong and yet they insist will work...

Should I go on?

Re: The Sharing Economy Was Dead on Arrival

#30

The movie Sorry to Bother You has a satirical look at the sharing economy gone awry. In the movie a controversial company called WorryFree exists that promises lifelong security where people willingly become slaves to live in dorms and survive without worry but for free. The movie is excellent.

I keep meaning to watch it. Sounds like there's a lot of interesting little parts to it.
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