Replying to Avatar Cory Doctorow

Uber was, is, and always will be a bezzle. There are intrinsic limitations to the profits in operating a taxi fleet, even if you misclassify your employees as contractors and steal their wages, even as you force them to bear the cost of buying and maintaining your taxis.

The magic of early Uber - when taxi rides were incredibly cheap, and there were always cars available, and drivers made generous livings behind the wheel - wasn't magic at all. It was just #PredatoryPricing.

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Cory Doctorow 2y ago

Uber lost $0.41 on every dollar they brought in, lighting $33b of its investors' cash on fire. Most of that money came from the #Saudi royals, funneled through #Softbank, who brought you such bezzles as #WeWork - a boring real-estate company masquerading as a high-growth tech company, just as Uber was a boring taxi company masquerading as a tech company.

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Cory Doctorow 2y ago

Predatory pricing used to be illegal, but #ChicagoSchool #economists convinced judges to stop enforcing the law on the grounds that predatory pricing was *impossible* because no rational actor would choose to lose money. They (willfully) ignored the obvious possibility that a #VC fund could invest in a money-losing business and use predatory pricing to convince retail investors that a pile of shit of sufficient size *must* have a pony under it somewhere.

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