Current Events > holy fuck CORPORATIONS are evil. Taxi driver kills himself because of UBER

(+) Yeah! (+)

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/27/nyregion/taxi-driver-suicide-nyc.html

jesus christ. When will it end? These corporations are legit scum.
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Not reading your link to a racist news organization.
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I don't understand how killing yourself automatically makes it someone else's fault.

Like if I kill myself and write on my note that it was WalkingLobsters fault, does that mean you hold real responsibility for my death?

WalkingLobsters posted...

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/27/nyregion/taxi-driver-suicide-nyc.html

jesus christ. When will it end? These corporations are legit scum.

Yeah taxi industry are legit trash

Why don't these taxi drivers just start driving for Uber? That's what they did on Nathan For You lol
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This just in, stagecoach employees are killing themselves in droves. Fuck Greyhound.
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Smashingpmkns posted...

Why don't these taxi drivers just start driving for Uber?

It seems that Uber is a really shitty company to work for.
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Smashingpmkns posted...

Why don't these taxi drivers just start driving for Uber? That's what they did on Nathan For You lol

Taxi industry ran a speculative investment industry where you pay money for a medalian that lets you be a taxi.

People spent lots of money on these limited amount of medalians.

Ride sharing made it worthless because taxis failed to innovate and would scam customers so customers didnt trust taxis

It would be one thing if this were an isolated incident, but it's not
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skimmed through i could. article says driver got a $700k medallion to drive taxi in New York in 2011. i dunno. selecting one thing as the sole cause of the suicide just aint right. this mans life was briefly discussed in this article.

had to work 12-14 hrs to make ends meet
couldnt afford daughters college
medallion now valued at $175k
not worth to work the debt off
decided to jump off a bridge? body found in water. its the 5th taxi driver in 5 months

for real though $700k medallion to drive??
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CruelBuffalo posted...

Smashingpmkns posted...

Why don't these taxi drivers just start driving for Uber? That's what they did on Nathan For You lol

Taxi industry ran a speculative investment industry where you pay money for a medalian that lets you be a taxi.

People spent lots of money on these limited amount of medalians.

Ride sharing made it worthless because taxis failed to innovate and would scam customers so customers didnt trust taxis

You nailed it, bro.
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Companies that once revolutionized and dominated new industries for example, Xerox in copiers[22] or Polaroid in instant photography have seen their profits fall and their dominance vanish as rivals launched improved designs or cut manufacturing costs. In technology, the cassette tape replaced the 8-track, only to be replaced in turn by the compact disc, which was undercut by downloads to MP3 players, which is now being usurped by web-based streaming services.[23] Companies which made money out of technology which becomes obsolete do not necessarily adapt well to the business environment created by the new technologies.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creative_destruction#Examples
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The taxi industry is fucking trash and has no one to blame but themselves.
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Not Uber or Lyft's fault the taxi industry can't adapt.
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Jiek_Fafn posted...

Not reading your link to a racist news organization.

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$700,000 medallion that gave him the right to operate a cab.

the fuck.

capitalism strikes again i guess?
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$700,000 medallion

Ummmm what the fuck?
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This sounds like yet more reasoning why the taxi service and how it is set up is shit. It is more responsible for his downfall than anything else. Absolutely mind boggling had to spend that much just to be a taxi driver and was clearly designed to make certain groups of people money and fuck anyone else.
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Taxi companies are basically run like cartels / monopolies. They deserve absolutely no sympathy.
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Uber isn't a corporation, so your point is off to a weak start
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The medallion is a government requirement, right? Sounds more like their fault than the corporations.
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LordMarshal posted...

$700,000 medallion

Ummmm what the fuck?

Artificial scarcity enforced by law in NYC.
Uber didn't kill this guy, New York did.

Jiek_Fafn posted...

Not reading your link to a racist news organization.

ill hop on a proxy and click for you, i got you fam
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imagine benefiting from a state-enforced monopoly for decades and then blaming competing businesses when the monopoly is undermined
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Medallion bubble. Australia has the same problem except their medal cost ONLY 300K. Keks. Blame investors who buy and sell the medals like they're tulips.
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"Blame the government!" as if the taxi companies weren't the ones who literally asked and worked directly with the government(s) to put the laws into place that are now fucking themselves over.

It's the same story everywhere.
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BUT BUT ... corporations self-regulate! amirite? tt anarcho-socialist.
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The only city I visit frequently where I use to use cabs a lot is Vegas. Cabs there were terrible, long hauling and rude as shit.

They tried hard to keep out Uber and may still get them kicked out.

Cab companies had no competition and got lazy.
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And honestly i cant feel bad for the cab industry. It's been crooked as shit for decades and all that regulation is starting to backfire on them in a big way
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Questionmarktarius posted...

Uber didn't kill this guy, New York did.

The blame game is a tricky one to play. We could make the argument that people (i.e. customers) are at fault because they shifted their money to services like Uber. Taxi drivers wouldnt be struggling if riders kept supporting them, but of course not too many people want to stay with an obsolete (or soon to be obsolete) business model.
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Uber is a really shitty company but for once they aren't really the problem here.
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KiwiTerraRizing posted...

The only city I visit frequently where I use to use cabs a lot is Vegas. Cabs there were terrible, long hauling and rude as shit.

They tried hard to keep out Uber and may still get them kicked out.

Cab companies had no competition and got lazy.

Uber is the only way to go in Vegas. Cabs are ridiculously expensive, around $50 from the airport to the strip, and it beats the shit out of the busses where people are crammed like sardines and stop a million times. Hopefully it isn't driven out.
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The medallion system is fucking stupid. Crony capitalism claims another life.
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Lorenzo_2003 posted...

Questionmarktarius posted...

Uber didn't kill this guy, New York did.

The blame game is a tricky one to play. We could make the argument that people (i.e. customers) are at fault because they shifted their money to services like Uber. Taxi drivers wouldnt be struggling if riders kept supporting them, but of course not too many people want to stay with an obsolete (or soon to be obsolete) business model.

This is why protectionism always fails.

Lorenzo_2003 posted...

Questionmarktarius posted...

Uber didn't kill this guy, New York did.

The blame game is a tricky one to play. We could make the argument that people (i.e. customers) are at fault because they shifted their money to services like Uber. Taxi drivers wouldnt be struggling if riders kept supporting them, but of course not too many people want to stay with an obsolete (or soon to be obsolete) business model.

No the blame game is pretty easy and direct in this one.

It's the taxi companies who are at fault here.
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So this guy had to pay or took a loan for 700k in order to drive a taxi?

At no point he didnt stoo and say "maybe this isnt the best idea" and seek another path?
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Bio1590 posted...

"Blame the government!" as if the taxi companies weren't the ones who literally asked and worked directly with the government(s) to put the laws into place that are now fucking themselves over.

It's the same story everywhere.

And what, our government just happily bent over? Businesses are supposed to lobby for policies that are advantageous to their bottom line, thats just how it works. Thats why we have the government whos job is to regulate industries to make sure businesses dont have unfair leverage
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Millennials killed taxidrivers
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Why does it cost 700K to become a taxi driver?

Interesting how the same thing that happened to video rental stores is happening to taxi companies
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catboy0_0 posted...

Millennials killed taxidrivers

Entitled socialist millennials supporting the capitalist marketplace killed taxi drivers.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XF2ayWcJfxo" data-time="

Metro2 posted...

Why does it cost 700K to become a taxi driver?

Government regulations
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700k to be a taxi driver. I thought jobs requiring expensive higher education was bullshit, but this takes the fucking cake. Seriously?
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I dunno, I'm just saying I would be hesitant to start a career with that much in debt.

You're better off working at McDonalds...

ChainedRedone posted...

Metro2 posted...

Why does it cost 700K to become a taxi driver?

Government regulations

Artificial scarcity, demanded by the taxi drivers themselves, and enforced by the city.
It's essentially the mafia, except the godfather has to campaign for reelection every now and then.

Questionmarktarius posted...

catboy0_0 posted...

Millennials killed taxidrivers

Entitled socialist millennials supporting the capitalist marketplace killed taxi drivers.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XF2ayWcJfxo" data-time="

Ok. mind blown.
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Metro2 posted...

I dunno, I'm just saying I would be hesitant to start a career with that much in debt.

You're better off working at McDonalds...

Having a 200K college loan is cheaper too.
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Questionmarktarius posted...

catboy0_0 posted...

Millennials killed taxidrivers

Entitled socialist millennials supporting the capitalist marketplace killed taxi drivers.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XF2ayWcJfxo" data-time="

YES
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Bio1590 posted...

No the blame game is pretty easy and direct in this one.

It's the taxi companies who are at fault here.

No, that is a simplification. Take, for example, the fact that no one is questioning why the driver Yu Mein Chow took out such a massive loan in the first place. He spent money that he could not afford to lose, in an industry that isnt very forgiving and was about to be opened wide by a new competitor that lots of experts and media outlets had been promoting and warning about. Thats not an investment. Thats gambling. And its not a secret to anyone anywhere that when you borrow money, it needs to be repaid.

It is uncomfortable to think about, so its not too surprising that people would rather blame the government, or blame the taxis, or blame Uber, or blame unions, or blame their neighbor, or blame robots and so on and so on.
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imagine debating whos to blame for SUICIDE
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