In Europe and now in South Korea, taxi drivers have pressured their governments to make Uber illegal. Uber supplies taxis ordered by cell phone to people who want a ride. It’s illegal, city governments say. The drivers are not licensed as taxi drivers.
Taxi drivers want guaranteed jobs and above-market wages. So, they get the government to pass a law mandating licensing. This restricts entry. This raises prices. This raises wages. So, fewer people use cabs.
Computer-driven cars are a decade away. The day that these are made legal for use on the roads will be the end of taxi drivers in that jurisdiction. Uber and its competitors will no longer have to pay drivers. The cost of getting a cab will fall. People will start using cabs more than ever before.
People who are dumb enough to still be taxi drivers will scream bloody murder, but to no avail. “It’s unfair! No one is hiring us!” True. Why should anyone hire a cab driver when a computer program works cheaper? No tip is expected.
Price competition works. Robotic cars will be safer than human-operated cars. They will be great taxi cabs. There will be no way for politicians to pass laws mandating that people rely on less safe drivers — humans. The voters will not allow it. When voters see how cheap they can get a cab, they will resist any effort to re-regulate the taxi market.
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IT’S NOT JUST TAXI DRIVERS
Job by job, licensing will be removed. The days of wine and roses will end for those workers who owe their high wages to government regulation and licensing.
If your occupation is licensed, start making plans for a new career or lower monetary income.
When a physician can be replaced by a nurse with a computer to do the diagnosing, prices will fall.
When the computer does 80% of the diagnosing, technicians will replace nurses.
When a $75 computer diagnosis chip does the diagnosis in our homes, and anyone can buy one on Amazon, the technicians will have to find another line of work. (The chips exist today.)
Want a physician’s assessment of this diagnosis? Thousands of physicians will be online and ready, 24×7 — in India, Mexico, and China. If they do not speak English, no problem.
“Are you talking to me?” Yes.
