Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

We must return to an economy fueled by innovation, rather than disruption

greg-satell.medium.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

101–110 of 318 posts

Re: We must return to an economy fueled by innovation, rather than disruption

#101

Post by lordnacho »

simonbarker87 wrote: post #15

Fully agree with this. It seems like so many of the apps that come to dominate just make up for shortcomings unique to the US that then, with money, take over the rest of the west for no good reason other than scale to get 25 people at the top of those companies rich. I’ve never seen the need for Uber. Taxis have never been an issue in the UK and the most successful firms in the city I lived when Uber was starting ou…

I would say a taxi app is a good though obvious idea, worth pursuing. What was a bit surprising was the sheer scale of it. That crowding out point in the essay is very relevant, we are basically allowing the bully with the big stack to raise everybody out of the poker game, no matter how good his cards actually are.

If we want a functioning market, let a bunch of little guys show what they can do, don't let one huge guy scare everyone else away.

Re: We must return to an economy fueled by innovation, rather than disruption

#102

Post by cultureulterior »

a-dub wrote: post #92
mftb wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're sample is simply not representative. If we could go back in time to 5 years before Uber's founding, I could show you the taxi system on the entire west coast of the US was non-functional, from San Diego to Seattle, service, pricing, availability were all abysmal. FWIW, I actually agree that the "Gig Economy" is riddled with problems, but at least in the case of Taxi's where Uber started, the existing system wa…

as a counterpoint, there were places like nyc where the cabs and black cars were very reliable, fast and cheap and there were both drivers and family owned black car bases that were keeping the overheads rather than see them sent elsewhere. many drivers were first generation immigrants.. owned homes in queens, were putting kids through college, looking at their name come up on the medallion wait-list in a few years a…

The fact that medallions were so expensive that you could retire off owning one was the problem. There weren't enough taxis.

Re: We must return to an economy fueled by innovation, rather than disruption

#103

Post by sokoloff »

unicornporn wrote: post #28
xmprt wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That doesn't sound right to me. The only place where you're paying $30 for an Uber where 1. it would have been possible to call a taxi, 2. the taxi only costs $10, 3. it's a 15 minute drive, is in the middle of a big city. In that case, why are you calling an Uber instead of using public transit? Yes, Ubers are more expensive than taxis in some cases, but in many other cases, they can do things that taxis can't.

> but in many other cases, they can do things that taxis can't. Like what?

Easily coordinate pre-paid transportation limited to your event as one:

https://help.uber.com/riders/article/vouchers-for-events-faq...

Re: We must return to an economy fueled by innovation, rather than disruption

#104

Post by ChicagoDave »

The loss of innovation has zip to do with the Uber Economy.

Try the fact that the middle class has been gutted by an unfair tax structure that shreds responsibility away from the wealthy and corporations and has created peripheral damage in high college cost and low public school expectations.

Bring back the tax rate where people making over 540k (the 1980 equivalent of the top tax rate $225,000) pay 50% on anything over that amount. In 1980 it was 70%. SEVENTY PERCENT.

If we raise the top tax rate, we pay for infrastructure, college, teachers that can teach critical thinking instead of how to pass a test. The middle class can chill out and raise a family, take a vacation, save for retirement, and not live pay check to pay check. We rebuild the middle class.

What happens if college goes back to a Pell grant and a part-time job cost? INNOVATION. People will have the ability to think freely and be creative. They won't be forced to figure out a career at 18-21 years old.

Guess what else we do? We start paying down the national debt for once and actually reducing the debt ceiling.

Our tax structure is insanely out of balance. That's the number one core problem in the United States.

Re: We must return to an economy fueled by innovation, rather than disruption

#105

Post by amelius »

ALittleLight wrote: post #79
waynecochran wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But Uber is horribly in the red financially. They disrupted a poorly ran industry, but didn’t produce anything that truly raised the economy… that’s the point.

That's Uber's problem though. Essentially their billionaire investors subsidized car rides for lots of people. Maybe it'll work out for Uber in the long run. Maybe not.

It will work out for them when/if they have destroyed the competition, that's the point. And in any case the founders are still billionaires.

Re: We must return to an economy fueled by innovation, rather than disruption

#106

Post by chii »

hughrr wrote: post #64
sokoloff wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Uber did many things, but “provide shittier or less reliable service than circa-2000 taxis” isn’t among them.

I regularly use non Uber taxis and have found them to actually be reliable. I'm in London and I'm not talking about black cabs for ref.

Was taxi reliable and good prior to the advent of uber?

Re: We must return to an economy fueled by innovation, rather than disruption

#107

Post by cuteboy19 »

Barrin92 wrote: post #52
cuteboy19 wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The 3rd paragraph is incongruous with the 4th paragraph. If they are not generating profits then how come we accuse them of extracting rent and "maintaining techno-peasants"? The major characteristic of feudalism was that power centers deteriorated and power was distributed to local lords insted of central kings. So how is having a single gigantic company more like feudalism? Lastly, why come up with such convoluted…

> If they are not generating profits then how come we accuse them of extracting rent because those are not the same thing. Feudalists don't extract surplus wage labor, they extract direct tribute from their subjects, and just like that the entire value of Facebook say, is in what its users produce on its platform. That experience is the actual rent they collect. Ever wondered why all of this stuff is free? And power…

I feel like my mother posting about some cauliflower recipe would be much less useful tribute than a few kilos of rice. There must be some point to the tribute.

This stuff is free because Facebook is an advertisement company. I enjoy a good conspiracy as well but at least it must be somewhat entertaining.

Re: We must return to an economy fueled by innovation, rather than disruption

#109

Post by cuteboy19 »

simonbarker87 wrote: post #35
mftb wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're sample is simply not representative. If we could go back in time to 5 years before Uber's founding, I could show you the taxi system on the entire west coast of the US was non-functional, from San Diego to Seattle, service, pricing, availability were all abysmal. FWIW, I actually agree that the "Gig Economy" is riddled with problems, but at least in the case of Taxi's where Uber started, the existing system wa…

Sure, but like I said - solving a problem in the US and then rolling it out across the globe just “because” doesn’t mean the rest of the world needed it, just mean you had enough money to outcompete even if your service is worse.

Most other countries have different companies like Ola DiDi etc which have localized models more suitable to the country theyre in. Uber actually failed to replicate its model in these countries
Post reply on HN