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Comment by milofeynman | Hacker News Reader

I don't know if you're genuine or not but the way you wrote this post sounds so utterly inauthentic[0]. You're whimsically sad you can't get more fun money to invest in stock, while the reason that ride sharing is being shut down is because it takes advantage of the lower class it depends on.

[0]edit: unauthentic->inauthentic

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You can't attack another user like this on HN, no matter how wrong they are or you feel they are. It does nothing to help the "lower class" or anyone else, and it destroys the commons here, which doesn't make anything better.

If you wouldn't mind reviewing https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and sticking to the rules when posting here, we'd be grateful. You've unfortunately broken them more than once lately.

We detached this subthread from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24225001.

https://www.cnet.com/features/uber-lyfts-fight-over-gig-work...

> You're whimsically sad you can't get more fun money to invest in stock, while the reason that ride sharing is being shut down is because it takes advantage of the lower class it depends on.

The American people take advantage of the lower class by tying healthcare to employment, and in an extra-cruel way where less lucrative jobs also provide insurance that is both more expensive day-to-day to the employee AND less comprehensive.

Uncouple basic benefits from jobs and so many of these problems go away in a much simpler way.

Employee-coupled healthcare in the US came about as a way around wage stabilization controls during WWII and was subsequently enshrined in no small part because of large unions that negotiated it as a major benefit in their contracts.

> Uncouple basic benefits from jobs

This is basically the one actual political policy issue that I feel strongly about.

A boy can dream...

Great idea, but in the meantime these workers need healthcare.

And when Uber and Lyft shut down they get neither healthcare nor this income.

Unless they find another job. Which they were free to do anyway. But that's not always so simple...

So what problem did we just solve?

It's hard to say because Lyft wasn't forced to shut down, they're doing it preemptively, perhaps to push for a vote on their Prop.

I was under the impression they're doing it because it'll be illegal for drivers to operate as contractors come tomorrow.

The taxi market shifts back to companies that are willing to pay for benefits.

Huh, I've never heard of one. Nearly all of taxi drivers are contractors, often owning the (company-branded) car they drive.

Nothing.

He is giving his point of view based on past experience. A lot of drivers see Uber as helpful side money, and that seems quite genuine. Those who see Uber this away are indeed seeing this opportunity taken away.

Does the California court order apply to these part-time drivers? I thought it only affected drivers essentially working full-time.

As far as I understand, it applies to all drivers, even ones that only drive 5 hours a week.

There are generally two kinds of drivers on rideshare apps: full-time and "extra cash" drivers. Many of the latter are middle class, not lower class, and I've spoken with many who say similar things to OP.

I've also spoken with many full-time drivers in California, and none were in favor of AB5; they liked their independence, and preferred this work largely because they weren't employees. They did feel resentful of Lyft and especially Uber for reducing their earnings over time (ie "taking advantage of them"), but didn't seem to think AB5 would help wit that.

>Please respond to the strongest plausible interpretation of what someone says, not a weaker one that's easier to criticize. Assume good faith. [0]

[0] https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

I read the post before it had any responses and based on how it read to me then I'd say milofeynman's post is responding to the strongest plausible interpretation, as that's one of the HNest posts I've ever seen, which is really saying something as that's a field full of strong contenders.

this whole thread is a travesty

This thread is a prime example of how one can troll or shitpost on HN, no problem, so long as the trolling and shitposting is sufficiently HN-flavored. By which I don't mean to imply that the moderation or community are systemically or broadly broken, certainly no more so than most communities online, but simply that there are definite gaps in the armor and when they're found you see a kind of mis-targeted immune response amplifying the damage (in fact, that effect is the main way damage is done by such posts on HN)

Yeah this entire post is filled with comments misrepresenting (intentionally or unintentionally) the dynamics at play here, and it's all fine and good because "California state government bad."

If it's genuine this is part of the reason the money earned goes to the floor. Since there's always a lot of people jumping in the service to provide 'supply' that lowers earnings for those that use these services as their only income stream and/or have debt to pay back (to pay back the new vehicle to enable even being on those services).

A brief glance at the comment history and account history makes me think that this is likely a genuine comment. Multiple years old account, lots of karma, recent comments cover a wide range of topics.

Unauthenticated as in a person's character, not as in shill. I should have chosen my words better.

Perhaps the compromise solution is to ban the unemployed and low-income workers from working for mobile taxi dispatch companies, and only let people do it who exceed certain income eligibility requirements.

5,000 karma account established in 2017 with a reasonable comment history shares person experience

...attacked as a shill.

I don't think the comment is claiming the OP is a shill; just that OP's description is idealistic i.e. what OP _wants_ to think of the situation, and not authentic to the average driver's experiences.

Unauthenticated as in a person's character, not as in shill. I should have chosen my words better.

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