Gig economy (neoliberal wet dream)
Bezzle
It’s still[1] not a business plan:[2]
The fundamental problem Uber and Lyft keep running into is that most people are not willing to pay the fares it would cost to run a profitable taxi service with the overhead Uber and Lyft require, to say nothing of paying drivers a decent wage. And alternatives both companies are pegging their hopes to like shared rides are not new ideas but recycled old ones that have proven even more costly because it turns out if people in urban areas are price-sensitive and willing to share a vehicle with strangers they will take a bus. The end result is an algorithm that offers you a discount to ride in a car it expects to have multiple passengers but more often than not is just another single-occupant taxi ride and just another loss leader for companies struggling to come up with ideas that make money.[3]
I’d have to check the details to be sure, but it looks to me like Aaron Gordon, from whom I quote above, wrote his analysis[4] after Preetika Rana wrote hers.[5]
Preetika Rana and Emily Glazer, “Lyft to Pause Some Hiring and Trim Budgets, Citing Economic Slowdown,” Wall Street Journal, May 24, 2022, https://www.wsj.com/articles/lyft-to-pause-hiring-and-reduce-budgets-to-reduce-costs-as-shares-plunge-amid-investor-concerns-11653426208
Laura Forman, “Tech’s Reckoning With Reality Is Still Half-Baked,” Wall Street Journal, May 25, 2022, https://www.wsj.com/articles/techs-reckoning-with-reality-is-still-half-baked-11653476401
Brad Stone and Lizette Chapman, “The Tech Rout Isn’t Just Cyclical—It’s Well-Earned, and Overdue,” Bloomberg, May 26, 2022, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2022-05-26/meta-amazon-tesla-big-tech-s-stock-selloff-is-long-overdue
Aaron Gordon, “Uber and Lyft Are Out of Ideas, Jacking Up Prices in Desperation for Profit,” Vice, May 27, 2022, https://www.vice.com/en/article/m7vmpb/uber-and-lyft-are-out-of-ideas-jacking-up-prices-in-desperation-for-profit
Preetika Rana, “Uber and Lyft’s New Road: Fewer Drivers, Thrifty Riders and Jittery Investors,” Wall Street Journal, May 27, 2022, https://www.wsj.com/articles/uber-and-lyfts-new-road-fewer-drivers-thrifty-riders-and-jittery-investors-11653651912
Donald Trump
Finances
I guess I don’t understand what a frivolous lawsuit really is, because it’s my very clear impression, an impression I would think has not been lost on judges, that Donald Trump files these lawsuits not on merit but as a desperate stalling tactic.
Shayna Jacobs, “Federal judge dismisses Trump’s lawsuit against N.Y. attorney general,” Washington Post, May 27, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/05/27/trump-new-york-lawsuit/
Mitch McConnell
Practice may make perfect, but it’s apparently getting harder to be Mitch McConnell. That’s not by any means to say he’s done. It seems no one of consequence wants his job,[6] particularly when they think, with good reason, they have a lame duck president to run against[7] whose job they do actually want.[8] The latter, of course, depends on Donald Trump, for whatever reason, not running—and I don’t know of anyone who’s banking on this.
Tara Palmeri, “The Agony and Ecstasy of Mitch McConnell,” Puck News, May 26, 2022, https://puck.news/the-agony-and-ecstasy-of-mitch-mcconnell/
- [1]Aaron Gordon, “Uber and Lyft Are Out of Ideas, Jacking Up Prices in Desperation for Profit,” Vice, May 27, 2022, https://www.vice.com/en/article/m7vmpb/uber-and-lyft-are-out-of-ideas-jacking-up-prices-in-desperation-for-profit↩
- [2]David Benfell, “This is not a business plan,” Not Housebroken, May 26, 2022, https://disunitedstates.org/2021/06/20/this-is-not-a-business-plan/↩
- [3]Aaron Gordon, “Uber and Lyft Are Out of Ideas, Jacking Up Prices in Desperation for Profit,” Vice, May 27, 2022, https://www.vice.com/en/article/m7vmpb/uber-and-lyft-are-out-of-ideas-jacking-up-prices-in-desperation-for-profit↩
- [4]Aaron Gordon, “Uber and Lyft Are Out of Ideas, Jacking Up Prices in Desperation for Profit,” Vice, May 27, 2022, https://www.vice.com/en/article/m7vmpb/uber-and-lyft-are-out-of-ideas-jacking-up-prices-in-desperation-for-profit↩
- [5]Preetika Rana, “Uber and Lyft’s New Road: Fewer Drivers, Thrifty Riders and Jittery Investors,” Wall Street Journal, May 27, 2022, https://www.wsj.com/articles/uber-and-lyfts-new-road-fewer-drivers-thrifty-riders-and-jittery-investors-11653651912↩
- [6]Tara Palmeri, “The Agony and Ecstasy of Mitch McConnell,” Puck News, May 26, 2022, https://puck.news/the-agony-and-ecstasy-of-mitch-mcconnell/↩
- [7]David Benfell, “My 2024 forecast,” Not Housebroken, May 25, 2022, https://disunitedstates.org/2022/03/10/my-2024-forecast/↩
- [8]Tara Palmeri, “The Agony and Ecstasy of Mitch McConnell,” Puck News, May 26, 2022, https://puck.news/the-agony-and-ecstasy-of-mitch-mcconnell/↩