Uber and Lyft Are The Arguments to turn (Social) Liberals to Libertarians

i was listening to a podcast earlier this week about the "sharing" economy, mostly dealing with the effects of uber/lyft on the price of taxi medallions. medallions were previously one of the best investments on earth, and a function of nothing more than local crony capitalism (create a cartel by limiting, legally, the number of market participants)

the rise in popularity of the "ride sharing" apps like uber and lyft are eroding the price of these medallions, because the market is speaking and market participants like the innovation (and potential savings) of the new tech. what are local governments doing? using the power of the state to criminalize this behavior in order to protect the cartels

this is a real world, plain view example of the argument of libertarians relating to how we deal with government infringing on our property rights as well as corruption in government. this sort of injustice will only exist IF we allow government to have the power. want to reduce corruption? reduce the power of that government position as well as the amount of money it can spend. who will bribe that person? kill the head and the body will die.

also, remember, this government protection of cartels benefits the rich. sure, the face of the argument for market protection (they took our jobs!) will be the poor drivers, but they are not the ones purchasing the medallions that are worth 7-figures. the "labor" argument is a hollow one, and it is ironic that those who claim to represent the workers are really defending management.

also, uber/lyft are "real world" examples, but with the "sharing economy" and the proliferation of communication and information exchanges via the internet and mobile technology, it's the tip of the ice berg. if you think about how this sort of tech, as well as other developments in tech may occur, society may change. the efficiency of society may evolve in ways even my generation can't truly imagine.

there are aps to share parking spaces right now. you signal when you're leaving, another person "buys" that spot's rights, and that's that. this tech is really limited to bigger cities on the west coast and it's just in its infancy, but this will REALLY change the urban lifestyle.

with self-driving cars, we won't even need taxi drivers, truck drivers for cargo, or hell, individual car ownership. down the road, we'll arrange a car to pick us up, drop us off, and then when we need another ride, do the same. hell this will make even the parking aps obsolete. you watch...government will do its best to make driverless cars illegal (we're talking 10M+ jobs lost at least...probably more when you discuss the industry of selling cars itself)

hell, houses may become an outdated concept. sharing living spaces (like we do with cars) will allow for a completely mobile lifestyle

the only thing (within expected reason) that can slow or prevent this progress, is government