NYC cuts deal to reset thousands of yellow taxi medallion loans to $200k

Their license to operate was worth up to a million; then Uber happened and now it's worth $100k; but many are in debt to $500k or so...

So did the government steal value by failing to enforce the "lack of competition" part of the agreement whereby they issued licenses in the first place?

Or did the government steal value for all the years from then til now by enforcing a licensing and regulation scheme that it now admits wasn't necessary or in the public interest?

Or was the "value" complete horseshit all along?

Is there any better example of rent-seeking than taxi medallions? If we abolished the concept of medallions overnight, and let anyone who met all of the other requirements be a taxi driver, wouldn't that simultaneously increase the take-home pay of taxi drivers and reduce fares?