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“Side Hustle” as a Sign of the Apocalypse

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Re: “Side Hustle” as a Sign of the Apocalypse

#61
Uber's not really viable as a part-time job. In LA, I've driven 20 hours this week and grossed $12.25/hour. Plus a $65 35-ride bonus, it comes to about $16/hour. If you miss the ride bonuses (offered Mon-Fri morning, Fri-Sun), you can't make any money.

If you drive enough, you should be able to earn $19-20 an hour, minus gas (e.g. $3/hour), car and insurance. Your net profits will be around $12 to 15/hour.

As a side job, it's probably better to get a flexible 1-2 day shift at a restaurant.

Re: “Side Hustle” as a Sign of the Apocalypse

#62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Dream on...

I don't dream, I do. I apply political and financial pressure against my Congressional reps, and have even threatened (with someone else's financial backing) running someone against them (which secured their vote for a socially progressive bill I wanted passed). But you do you. I enjoy applying pressure in the political space, and I play a long game.

I'm not disagreeing about representative pressure. Listen, I've been in almost every congressional office building on the hill and participated in several house campaigns, including a successful one.

But I also don't kid myself: this kind of action is not playing the long game.

The agenda is set such that congress really doesn't even get to vote on the important matters directly. For example, there will never be a vote directly on the matter of whether to spend money gleaned from taxing gig economy companies on shoring up services or bombing brown people.

But that's not even the point.

Government is not the long game. The state is temporary and its time is nearly over.

The long game is human evolution, especially what we today call "technology."

Re: “Side Hustle” as a Sign of the Apocalypse

#64
post #44
post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I like The point isn't preventing YOU , the consumer, from doing this. The point is that most people as the supplier aren't doing Uber, AirBnB, etc because they like it. They're doing it because they don't have any other good alternatives. Most of the people on the supply side of the serfdom economy are gaining very little benefit. This is a real problem.

> They're doing it because they don't have any other good alternatives. So champion proposals that would grow the economy, create more jobs, increase the median hourly wages, and/or improve the social safety net. I don't see how vilifying Uber or AirBNB is going to help accomplish any of the above. P.S. There is no way for you as an individual to be a supplier on the Seamless, but that still hasn't spared them the au…

Also the author Matt Ruby is a circuit comedian and vlogger: professional complaining is his own personal form of brogramming: he has no actual solutions provided, he hasn't organized any communities, and the advertisement promotions on his startup comedy site "vooza" are indistinguishable from ones on the sites of some of the startups he's complaining about.

Those who spend time consuming tripe like this or Silicon Valley, over some internet service, and then bitch about brogrammers are the problem. The efforts of greater people past are rotting under the asses of loud observers and you're no fucking Cesar Chavez.

Re: “Side Hustle” as a Sign of the Apocalypse

#65
The take-away about Seamless I overheard in real time in a frightening way. Sitting in the smoking area, waiting for a coworker to come grab me for work, two of my neighbors were talking about how they actively avoided becoming friends with other neighbors, they just didn't want that kind of connection and preferred that neighbors just stayed in their lane as people who ostensibly share a dwelling in the same high-rise.

And it wasn't the first time I'd heard people expressing that viewpoint. In a completely different part of town when I rented an apartment I hard that same conversation.

Maybe I'm overly sentimental or looking at the idea of 'neighborhoods' and 'communities' with rose-tinted glasses but that shook me, it bothered me to my core-deeply. I've always looked at neighborhoods as the bedrock of citizenry, the most basic form of what it means to be among people who shared your at least some of your interests of home and hearth because of said proximity.

People now actively avoid those kinds of relationships. I still think about it to this day, despite having walked to pubs with the very people I heard talking about this. Maybe I'm thinking too much about it.

Re: “Side Hustle” as a Sign of the Apocalypse

#67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why should Uber driver be considered employees but not taxi drivers driving for Yellow Cab? Pretty much all taxi drivers are independent contractors, and I don't see how they are different from Uber drivers.

It might just be due to the labor laws that define what a contractor and an employee are, and how taxi drivers and uber drivers are thus classified. You might check into those!

Your dismissive tone is not warranted.

Look into the 20-point list the IRS uses to make the W2/1099 distinction yourself, and you'll find Uber drivers as far (or further) to the "contractor" side as many yellow-car cabbies are.

Re: “Side Hustle” as a Sign of the Apocalypse

#68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why should Uber driver be considered employees but not taxi drivers driving for Yellow Cab? Pretty much all taxi drivers are independent contractors, and I don't see how they are different from Uber drivers.

It might just be due to the labor laws that define what a contractor and an employee are, and how taxi drivers and uber drivers are thus classified. You might check into those!

[deleted]

Re: “Side Hustle” as a Sign of the Apocalypse

#70
Great post.

I had been working on a pitch for Uber for Wet Nurses but didn't realize my target demographic was actually 20's to 30's white males. Maybe I should crunch the numbers again.

Now to counteract the 'Seamless effect', we should build an Uber for Companionship & Human Contact, you know.. like an Uber for 'Dating'. We can reap a percentage of the income the companion makes from the date...

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