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Uber launches flat fares in San Francisco through subscription

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Re: Uber launches flat fares in San Francisco through subscription

#171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Disengenuous to ignore the appallingly violent way Socialism has historically grabbed power and suppressed their populations. Very different from rebellions for independence for instance.

Sure. The Stalinist were a horribly violent. So were the US backed gorrillas in every violent uprising in South America in the 1980's. So were Belgian trading companies in the Congo. So were the French people during the Reign of Terror. So were the Catholics during the all of the Inquisitions. So were the Spanish during the expulsion of the Moors. I could go on. The point being that this is not a Socialist trait. The…

It's disingenuous to call attention to US-backed guerrillas in South America without also noting that the supposedly "indigenous people's movements" in the region that these guerrilas were fighting against were not actually local in origin at all.

They were universally created, armed, trained, and funded by the KGB as part of a massive decades-long social engineering program designed to make people think that there were organic third world socialist movements which had spontaneously emerged from the local population's great love of socialism. In reality they were all -- 100% of them -- created and operated by remote control from Moscow.

They served the interests of the Soviet Union exclusively. They were interested in the needs or betterment of local peoples only insofar as this also served to expand Soviet control and influence in those places.

As the local third world socialists usually naively did not realize this reality, the locals who actually worked and fought in the "indigenous" movements were internally referred to as "useful idiots" within the KGB.

Communism has always been an explicitly internationalist movement with the conversion of all countries worldwide -- and especially highly industrialized countries, above all the United States -- to Communist rule as the open goal. Under these circumstances, the US response of funding counter-operations abroad to counteract these KGB operations was appropriate.

See e.g. the Mitrokhin archive, https://www.foreignaffairs.com/reviews/capsule-review/2006-0..., etc.

Re: Uber launches flat fares in San Francisco through subscription

#172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not confusing Colonialism with capitalism.

What do you think the purpose of Colonialism was?

"Colonialism" does not exist as such. It's merely a sometimes useful intellectual abstraction, not a real thing. It has no objectives or purpose, because it does not and never actually existed as a real thing. It's merely a summary shorthand for a certain set of ideas.

Trying to impute motives to an unreal analytic abstraction is the reification fallacy.[1]

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reification_(fallacy)

Re: Uber launches flat fares in San Francisco through subscription

#173

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What do you think the purpose of Colonialism was?

"Colonialism" does not exist as such. It's merely a sometimes useful intellectual abstraction, not a real thing. It has no objectives or purpose, because it does not and never actually existed as a real thing. It's merely a summary shorthand for a certain set of ideas. Trying to impute motives to an unreal analytic abstraction is the reification fallacy.[1] [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reification_(fallacy)

> "Colonialism" does not exist as such.

That is an empty refutation...

Colonialism was(is?) as very real practice. I really don't understand how you can claim that it is an "intellectual abstraction"

You went to Wikipeda for the definition of reification, but not for the definition of Colonialism[1]?

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colonialism

Re: Uber launches flat fares in San Francisco through subscription

#174

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ideally, political change can happen without violence or bloodshed. But we don' live in an ideal world. We never have, and we never will. Pretty much ANY political system gains power through bloodshed. The United States, Canada, England, France, Germany, pretty much the entirety of South America, Africa and Asia... With the wide ranges of political systems that span all these places, each and every one of them was pu…

That's all entirely beside the point. The post was responding to another post claiming that historic socialists have been particularly great advocates of democracy, which is empirically false. Whether other systems have also been undemocratic is irrelevant (the "tu quoque fallacy").

> Socialism has historically been imposed involuntarily at gunpoint in almost all cases where it has achieved any measure of real power. Moreover, once established, its show elections are a farce, with only pre-selected Party approved candidates allowed to win.

I simply making the point that gripping power through undemocratic means is not a trait of a particular political belief, but rather a trait of human kind in general. Not agreeing with huac, and not agreeing with you.

You're quoting fallacies while not understanding what's being said around you.

Re: Uber launches flat fares in San Francisco through subscription

#175

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure. The Stalinist were a horribly violent. So were the US backed gorrillas in every violent uprising in South America in the 1980's. So were Belgian trading companies in the Congo. So were the French people during the Reign of Terror. So were the Catholics during the all of the Inquisitions. So were the Spanish during the expulsion of the Moors. I could go on. The point being that this is not a Socialist trait. The…

It's disingenuous to call attention to US-backed guerrillas in South America without also noting that the supposedly "indigenous people's movements" in the region that these guerrilas were fighting against were not actually local in origin at all. They were universally created, armed, trained, and funded by the KGB as part of a massive decades-long social engineering program designed to make people think that there w…

Everything you said is irrelevant.

You completely ignored (or didn't understand) my point. I spread the attributions of violence around to show that using abhorrent violence to grip power has nothing to do with political inclination, economic system or religion. It is innately human.

Re: Uber launches flat fares in San Francisco through subscription

#176

Uber has taken $12B of capital, broken the regulatory regimes and opened the drive-for-hire markets, marketed the benefits of drive-for-hire and ride-sharing to drivers and consumers, and helped drivers finance vehicles – but now there seems to be no barrier to entry for any competing service except writing an app. I'm happy to let VCs pay for my comfortable daily ride to work but I don't see how this is sustainable.…

I wonder if they will succeed with autonomous fleet, or will burn through all the cash and reserves way before that...

Re: Uber launches flat fares in San Francisco through subscription

#177
post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They only guarantee gross pay -- that figure doesn't include Uber's cut or operating expenses[1][2]. Together, that would make your taxable income something like 60% of the figure. [1] http://therideshareguy.com/what-to-make-of-the-2016-uber-hou... [2] And seriously, phrasing the guarantee as before their own cut? Come on, guys.

> And seriously, phrasing the guarantee as before their own cut? Come on, guys. I see your point here and am annoyed by this tendency, but to be fair, in the US, this is pretty common. After all, salaries are reported pre-tax, despite a $100K salary meaning wildly different post-tax nets depending on where in the country you live.

If you're still following, I want to give a more thorough response, since I don't think my other one got to the core of your point.

I think your point is that it's common practice to not mention all kinds of add-ons when listing prices, so there's nothing particularly unusual about Uber doing it, even if we'd prefer everyone to agree to stop doing it.

But even so, I think there's a big difference: in the case of taxes (retail or labor), there's a valid defense: "I don't know tax rates in your municipality", "I don't know how many deductions you have or what your family income is". Even so, when paying a vendor, you know how much you're deducting from their payments for yourself, so you don't really have an excuse for reporting a figure that includes a part that you know you have to personally take out.

The scumminess would be more obvious if Uber e.g. claimed that rides in a certain interval would get a 10% bonus, without also mentioning that they increased their take to cover it all. It would no however, be scumy if they simply failed to mention that "oh, this might push you into a higher tax bracket".

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