By using this site, you agree to our Privacy Policy and our Terms of Use. Close
Mr Khan said:
SamuelRSmith said:
Mr Khan said:

You never watched that one episode of The Simpsons about what happens in unlicensed cabs, did you? Granted, they were in Rio de Janeiro at the time, but still... licensing and regulations exist for good reasons just as often (or moreso) than they exist for poor ones.


That's all you got out of my post?

Licenses exist because taxi companies benefit massively from them. You know how much it costs to legally drive a cab in New York? About a million dollars. Who are the only people who can afford that? The big taxi companies.

Guess who the number one lobbyists are for taxi regulations and medallions? Taxi companies.

No, but your larger points have other issues, including the catch-22 of qualified, out of work individuals (like myself). Employers don't hire us for low-end jobs, because they know as well as we do that we'll hop as soon as a real opportunity comes by, and then they don't waste training on us. In a free market society, this problem would grow rather than shrink, as you'd have such out-of-work individuals hedged out by teenagers or underqualified immigrants or something.

The Free Market is a model like every other economic model, and like every other economic model, is flawed.

This is due to all the barriers put in place which make employment much harder/more expensive to do. The cost of training a new employee does exist, but it's only a small factor of  why companies don't like high employment turnover (which is effectively what you're referring to).

In a free society, there would also be a hell of a lot more employers out there. Like I said, my parents would love to have all sorts of stuff done around the house. People could just knock on other people's doors, and offer their services, or just drop a flyer through the door. Hell, if you live in a city, just offer a service where you bring people their lunches. People have short work breaks, and don't want to spend time in a queue. Buy their lunch for them, and put on a small markup.

Anybody could make money if they really want to. They can today, just make sure anybody down at the Government doesn't find out about it. They will try and shut you down.