Hillary Clinton Plans to Campaign Against Uber’s Contractor Economy
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Re: Hillary Clinton Plans to Campaign Against Uber’s Contractor Economy
#2Just the other day someone posted a link about the "sharing economy" job of pretending to be a girlfriend. The service is promoted as a way to convince others that you're getting some.
In reality is is used for many things, for example the author's "boyfriend" wrecked his car and needed someone to talk to.
However the author found that she earned about one dollar per hour. The crowdsourcing company that she worked for points out that, as its workers are independent contractors, it is not bound by employment laws.
I hasten to disagree but that's what the company actually says.
I see the sharing economy as the problem not the solution.
Re: Hillary Clinton Plans to Campaign Against Uber’s Contractor Economy
#3"sharing economy" sounds so much friendlier than "contractor, no workplace protections economy"
Re: Hillary Clinton Plans to Campaign Against Uber’s Contractor Economy
#4Hillary never needs to use anything like Uber or Airbnb.
Whether sharing/contract economy is good or bad, it is a complicated issue. Why would we need a president pretending knows everything?
Re: Hillary Clinton Plans to Campaign Against Uber’s Contractor Economy
#5I happen to agree that there needs to be a better understanding.
Personally I believe that ultimately we'll just expand unconditional basic income via a welfare state one way or the other, and people will choose to work if they want to. But until that happens...
It would be a good idea to define the difference between a marketplace that connecta people and one that sets the terms without the two sides having input.
Once again centralization causes the heavy hand of the central party, whether a marketplace, buyer or provider.
Re: Hillary Clinton Plans to Campaign Against Uber’s Contractor Economy
#6Hillary sat on the board of Wal-Mart from 1986 to 1992 and there aren't many places that exploit their workers much more than they do. It would have been nice if she had done some campaigning on behalf of workers back then.
Re: Hillary Clinton Plans to Campaign Against Uber’s Contractor Economy
#7The reason airbnb and uber exist is because the prior business models are broken with regards to a big enough portion of their potential customers. A conversation with the average taxi driver will reveal the job is no ticket to the high life or consistent pay.
The way forward is to get rid of the concept of 'benefits' packages and just let people work for a gross pay and let themselves choose their own benefits from that.
Ultimate flexibility is what efficient economies are about. Unions don't like that future and understandably try and fight it. It's a futile fight in the end.
The reference to qualifying for a loan based on permanent work is not relevant. A history of stable earnings is enough to qualify for a loan. Permanent positions are no guarantee of enough employment to pay down most loans.
Re: Hillary Clinton Plans to Campaign Against Uber’s Contractor Economy
#8...so instead of refactoring your law so that contractors have the same social benefits as "full-time employees" instead, she wants to turn the contractors into more easily controlled full time wage slaves.
I really hope you Americans don't vote a president with such twisted logic! ...imagine how this warped way of thinking would be manifested in international politics
Re: Hillary Clinton Plans to Campaign Against Uber’s Contractor Economy
#9Labor market flexibility is one of the great strengths of the US economy. It's one of the reasons why unemployment is back to reasonable levels even after the Great Recession. The freelancer economy has some downsides but in aggregate it's a good thing, both for workers and the economy as a whole. The opposite end of the spectrum is the labor market regulations in a country like Greece, which has always been a drag on their economy (even before their debt crisis).
Anyway, this is a great opportunity for the Republicans to paint themselves as the party of progress and technology, though they need to clean up some of their backward views (climate change, etc.) before such a claim would be credible.
The NY Times had a somewhat more balanced article about Hillary campaigning against Uber: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/13/business/rising-economic-i...
Re: Hillary Clinton Plans to Campaign Against Uber’s Contractor Economy
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