Anyone but me hoping Uber's stock price goes through the floor?

Post #428,883 by mmoffitt 5/9/19 8:56:53 AM 5/9/19 8:56:53 AM Reply	Anyone but me hoping Uber's stock price goes through the floor? If not, consider ... But Uber may well have burned that business model to the ground. Sure, Uber has an amazing app and data, but its incredible rise has been mainly fueled by its backers’ willingness to subsidise taxi rides in the hope that one day Uber will crush the opposition, create a monopoly, and dominate transportation in a way that allows it to make the kind of ever-rising profits that will keep Wall Street happy. For now that means creating a caste of low-paid drivers, lured by the promise of flexible work hours then – like the serfs of old – tied to their landlord by car debts and forced to work their land ever harder to keep up with the payments. No wonder the peasants are revolting. One day soon – it hopes – those drivers will go the way of horses when the car killed the horse and buggy. Replaced by a fleet of robo-cars that – in Uber’s libertarian dreams – will make car ownership and public transport a thing of the past. It didn’t start this way. Uber used to be called part of the “sharing economy.” The idea was people would collaborate, peer to peer, to offer services such as rides or places to stay. Drivers could do what they loved – make art, open a bakery – then make a little cash driving on the side. Sadly only the “little cash” part of that dream came true. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/may/09/uber-sharing-economy-ride-share-ipo bcnu, Mikem It's mourning in America again.
Post #428,893 by Ashton 5/9/19 3:29:25 PM 5/9/19 3:29:25 PM Reply	Count moi in.. their greedy cynicism is enough reason for a Stake-->Heart (They must get in line) since: their disease was already a Pandemic--the one which made Murica What It IS Today/and previously. *Hah!* (And.. barring an impossibility/the proles Awakening [insert jocular simile] ... ... Tomorrow.. and tomorrow... and Tomorrow.
Post #428,912 by a6l6e6x 5/10/19 12:16:20 PM 5/10/19 12:16:20 PM Reply	Sure. They practice virtual slavery. Alex "There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that "my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge." -- Isaac Asimov
Post #428,916 by boxley 5/10/19 1:01:07 PM 5/10/19 1:01:07 PM Reply	here is where their profit comes in https://www.reuters.com/article/us-uber-ipo-profit/the-answer-to-ubers-profit-challenge-it-may-lie-in-its-trove-of-data-idUSKCN1SF0O5 "Science is the belief in the ignorance of the experts" – Richard Feynman
Post #428,922 by a6l6e6x 5/10/19 3:25:18 PM 5/10/19 3:25:18 PM Reply	They are not the only ones that wan to know your exact location... and then monetize it. One needs to not run and kill after use any apps that do that, e.g. AccuWeather and Fitbit. Big Brother is alive and well. Alex "There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that "my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge." -- Isaac Asimov
Post #428,924 by rcareaga 5/10/19 3:30:17 PM 5/10/19 3:30:17 PM Reply	I, too, don’t care for Uber’s business model …and seldom have recourse to the service, but Oakland’s taxis are unreliable. For example, one evening last year a visiting friend tippled enough wine that we grew concerned over his ability to motor home, two miles distant, without endangering himself or others. Nor indeed did we as his hosts, while nothing like as impaired, feel altogether confident of our own abilities to ace a field sobriety test should one come up over the course of the drive. We attempted to summon a cab, and these all came a-cropper for various reasons: “number out of service,” voicemail hell with insipid music, or “we don’t serve that area” (WTF? Yeah, it was a really rough precinct in the eighties, but we’ve gentrified, fer fucksake! There’s a Whole Foods on the corner!). The spousette in desperation summoned Uber for the first time, being careful to close the corner on the pentagram, and our friend got safely home. In January, leaving plenty of time to spare, we attempted to take BART, the local rail system, into Berkeley to meet friends for a play. BART chose that evening to have one of its occasional attacks of the fantods, and we were trapped in a stationary and extremely crowded train for the better part of an hour. At length released, and with a bare twenty minutes to curtain time, we attempted to secure a cab, similarly without success, before again having recourse to Uber (we were late, and were obliged to watch from the wings before being permitted to join our party at intermission). Again, I don’t like ’em, but the outfit has helped me out of a couple of jams (cash subsidies being tendered the driver on each occasion). YMMV. car-dially,

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