Drug dealers provide something of value and personally I think we would be way better off if drugs were legalized. So we're going to call our local drugs-gangs "disruptive startups" now?
90% procent of the time these companies are simply breaking privacy, consumer protection and labor laws for one reason and one reason only: greed. So occasionally they may stumble upon a law that actually needs reform. Even a broken clock is right twice per day.
That doesn't make me okay with OK with breaking the law as a business strategy, especially since most of the time it isn't the Comcasts of this world that suffer the consequences, but individual workers and consumers.
This Robin Hood worship is pathetic. These startups are not making the world a better place.
You know, I actually agree with you, by the definitions of things we have in place today, that is, in fact, organized crime. And since most people violate three laws a day, and we use various corporate affiliations to do it, it would follow that we are all members of a vast organized crime syndicate.
Going to need some bigger prisons.
Don't know about "local drug-gangs," but yeah, I see my friendly, neighborhood reefer dealer as an entrepreneur who provides a valued service.
As opposed to governments gone berserk?
I'm sure there are other issues that need sorting, but as an outsider much of the taxi industry's regulations seem like they can be modernized for a post uber/lyft world.
I'm not sure about the situation in California but I looked into how taxis were insured in Maryland and it turns out they basically don't have insurance. They are only required to have a certain amount of cash in an account that acts like insurance if something happens. I believe the amount was around $30,000 which is very very little if something legitimately serious were to happen. Which is why I find it funny when people think taxis are some how better insured than ride share services.
As the fleet size increases, the amount of the bond goes up as well -- essentially giving companies the choice of self insuring. I'd be surprised if many independent operators were self-bonded.
And of course, it's not like the minimum insurance requirements are great across the board either.
The alternative is something like Toronto where personal car insurance costs upwards of $300 a month for a 23 year old male with no tickets or accidents because the minimum coverage is so extensive.
> The Maryland General Assembly approved the increase in April, slightly upping legal minimum insurance coverage to at least $30,000 per person and $60,000 per crash.
Exactly. And that's amazing. I don't want to pay any insurance, I can self-insure and pay with my own bond if I'm caught into an accident.
If not, you might have a comfortable position waiting for you in the mafia.
Yes, this includes targeted killings and violent extortion when required. Since this threat has been proven credible it's normally not required to actually break people; people simply give up before the tire irons have to be brought out.
FTFY
However you call it, it is ultimately power (of man) that rules other men. Having to push it through the frictional and slow law process merely makes powerful men less powerful by the amount of the systemic friction. But the power gradients still exist and lead to the same consequences.
It merely prolongs a "i dont like him, behead him on the spot" into "i dont like him, make the state attorney accuse him of rape and murder, drag him through courts for 20 years and execute him". But the intimidating effect of power differences is the same. Rule of law is just the same ol rule of man cloaked into law.
However there is a clever trick that the current President has used. Pass laws that are ridiculously long and large. When you pass a law that is 1000 pages long with another 1000 pages of appendixes, no sensible man can read and make sense of it and hence does not have much credible ground to oppose it.
"You think clause 9, subsection B poses a problem for X ? We have taken care of in clause 204 sub-claue 11c when taken into context of Annex. Z" a trick that was mastered by British and Indians.
But we're providing something of value!