Tuesday, July 8, 2014

Finally, A Loss for Socialist Kshama Sawant in Seattle

The Seattle City Council voted 6-3 to repeal an ordinance it adopted last March that limited ride-share companies, including Lyft, Sidecar and UberX to 150 active drivers apiece, reports the Seattle PI.

The left wing of the Council — Council members Kshama Sawant, Nick Licata and Mike O’Brien — cast the Nay votes.

“I do not want to be strong armed by corporations,” Sawant said during a talk explaining her vote.

Reports SPI:
UberX and Lyft demonstrated their political lift during the process. The San Francisco-based companies adamantly opposed the active driver cap, saying it would put them out of business. They spent an estimated $600,000 collecting enough petition signatures to suspend the Council ordinance and force a vote.

 “There will no cap on the number of for-hire drivers: We have deregulated a highly regulated monopoly,” Seattle Mayor Ed Murray said.

It should be noted, though, that this step is far from a complete free market step. UberX and Lyft will now be part of a new government created cartel, that will limit others from entering the Seattle taxi industry.

The city will only issue 200 new taxi licenses over the next four years.

Taxi and for-hire drivers will see their licenses “transfer into a property right” on the order of New York’s valuable taxi medallions.

-RW

4 comments:

  1. "I do not want to be strong armed by corporations,” Sawant said during a talk explaining her vote."

    -Yeah, because she wants to be the one doing the strong-arming.

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    Replies
    1. Wouldn't it have been great if just one person had the ability to ask her at that very moment, "How could any of these companies strong arm you? Please be specific."

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  2. Government granted monopoly = higher prices = attack on real wages = counter-productive socialist policies

    ReplyDelete