Far-left, Anti-Austerity Party Triumphs in Greek Election.

[Seth]

Taxi unions here got security cameras installed in cabs, which protects both the driver and the passengers.

I got security cameras in my car and I didn't need a fucking union goon to put it in for me, I put it in myself because it's prudent to do so. If taxi drivers wanted security cameras, they fucking well could have gone and bought them themselves..

Sigh. Most drivers drive for other people. I.e. it isn't their car.

So what? A Dropcam costs about $150 plus about $7 a month for cloud recording.

They shouldn't be responsible for putting in security cameras unregulated (i.e. you need to consider passenger privacy rights) in someone else's car.

If they want a camera, they can put in a camera and take it out at the end of each shift. Whether they "should" have to do so or not is a matter of debate. As for passenger privacy rights, that's simple, you put a sticker on the window saying "everything in this cab is both video and audio recorded and by entering the cab you grant permission to be recorded. If you don't want to, then fuck off."

As usual, you don't know what you are talking about.

Still don't need a union to get cameras. All you have to do is go to the legislature and make a compelling case for making them a legal requirement for public transportation.

They also got security partitions installed in some troublesome cab areas around the country, which stops cabbies from being assaulted and killed. You're an idiot.

Lawsuits would have accomplished the same thing, cheaper, without having to chain employees to the corrupt influence of unions.

How is a lawsuit going to do it? That doesn't regulate anyone to do anything.

If a cab company has to pay millions in damages every time a cabbie is hurt, they are going to provide security equipment all on their own.

You need standards. Even you sometimes accept that standards are necessary.

Don't need a union to make standards. That's the job of the regulating authority, before which any and every cabbie can appear to petition for redress of grievances at exactly zero cost to them.

And if you don't like the risks of being a cabbie, then don't be a cabbie.

Or be one and take advantage of the excellent work that unions do looking out for your rights and working conditions.

That's fine if I WANT them to do so and voluntarily pay them to do so. But if I don't, there's no reason they should be permitted to extort money from me.

Not to mention the fact that cabbies are the ones who demand cash only, which makes them targets.

What the fuck are you talking about? This isn't the wild west (i.e. the US). ALL cabs have eftpos facilities in them here. Remember, we live in the civilised world, Seth.

Did you read the story I wrote about how that actually works in the real world?

Uber drivers aren't targets because they don't accept cash, it's all done by credit card that's been verified so that Uber and the driver know exactly who they are picking up, so if something happens, there's direct evidence available, which is why Uber drivers are very rarely robbed.

Good for you. But cabs are meeting a market (i.e. people who want the option to pay in cash). I thought you supported market mechanisms?

I'm fine with that as long as there is a big sign saying CASH ONLY on the door. What I'm talking about is drivers who agree to accept credit card payments and then change their mind and extort cash from the rider by refusing to complete the trip.

Cabbies could do that if they wanted to, but they don't because they like cash transactions that they can conceal from tax authorities, so they made their own bed, and now they can lie in it.

[/quote]

As usual, you have no idea what you are talking about.

That's how it works around here. Your mileage may vary.

[Seth]

It's an expensive and rapidly depreciating tool, though.

Yeah? So? You have to spend money to make money. I'm paying my bills and I'm showing a profit, so it's all good. Beats the hell out of living in a cardboard box.

[pErvinalia]

Taxi unions here got security cameras installed in cabs, which protects both the driver and the passengers.

I got security cameras in my car and I didn't need a fucking union goon to put it in for me, I put it in myself because it's prudent to do so. If taxi drivers wanted security cameras, they fucking well could have gone and bought them themselves..

Sigh. Most drivers drive for other people. I.e. it isn't their car.

So what? A Dropcam costs about $150 plus about $7 a month for cloud recording.

They shouldn't be responsible for putting in security cameras unregulated (i.e. you need to consider passenger privacy rights) in someone else's car.

If they want a camera, they can put in a camera and take it out at the end of each shift. Whether they "should" have to do so or not is a matter of debate. As for passenger privacy rights, that's simple, you put a sticker on the window saying "everything in this cab is both video and audio recorded and by entering the cab you grant permission to be recorded. If you don't want to, then fuck off."

It's not just about being recorded, it's about how that recorded data is safely stored and used. Letting some drop kick cabbie who didn't even graduate from high school take control of that sort of information is unethical. Thankfully we here live in the civilised world where the government sets appropriate standards to protect the rights of the passenger.

As usual, you don't know what you are talking about.

Still don't need a union to get cameras. All you have to do is go to the legislature and make a compelling case for making them a legal requirement for public transportation.

Yes, we know you aren't a libertarian, but there's no need to make it so obvious. Once again, you back the State over the individual.

They also got security partitions installed in some troublesome cab areas around the country, which stops cabbies from being assaulted and killed. You're an idiot.

Lawsuits would have accomplished the same thing, cheaper, without having to chain employees to the corrupt influence of unions.

How is a lawsuit going to do it? That doesn't regulate anyone to do anything.

If a cab company has to pay millions in damages every time a cabbie is hurt, they are going to provide security equipment all on their own.

It's not up to cab companies, dip shit. It's up to the owner. If an owner doesn't want to install a safety screen, then the driver is shit out of luck. That's why unions are so good. They look out for the rights of the worker. Waiting till 'x' drivers are killed and the years of lawsuits before getting reasonable safety standards is retarded thinking, even for you.

You need standards. Even you sometimes accept that standards are necessary.

Don't need a union to make standards.

Nearly every fucking workplace standard came from the work of unions!

That's the job of the regulating authority, before which any and every cabbie can appear to petition for redress of grievances at exactly zero cost to them.

yes yes, we know you love the State.

And if you don't like the risks of being a cabbie, then don't be a cabbie.

Or be one and take advantage of the excellent work that unions do looking out for your rights and working conditions.

That's fine if I WANT them to do so and voluntarily pay them to do so. But if I don't, there's no reason they should be permitted to extort money from me.

No one is extorted to join a union here. Remember, we don't live in Retardville like you do. As I said, the problem isn't unions per se in the US, it's the selfish attitude your culture engenders.

Not to mention the fact that cabbies are the ones who demand cash only, which makes them targets.

What the fuck are you talking about? This isn't the wild west (i.e. the US). ALL cabs have eftpos facilities in them here. Remember, we live in the civilised world, Seth.

Did you read the story I wrote about how that actually works in the real world?

"Real world"?? You have no fucking clue how the real world works. I worked as a cabbie. I don't need to read your blinkered fantasies. Thanks to proper regulation here (which you lot obviously lack in the US; remember, YOU are the one who argues for less regulation) cabbies have to provide both eftpos and cash options. If they don't, they will lose their license, plain and simple.

Uber drivers aren't targets because they don't accept cash, it's all done by credit card that's been verified so that Uber and the driver know exactly who they are picking up, so if something happens, there's direct evidence available, which is why Uber drivers are very rarely robbed.

Good for you. But cabs are meeting a market (i.e. people who want the option to pay in cash). I thought you supported market mechanisms?

I'm fine with that as long as there is a big sign saying CASH ONLY on the door.

There's NO SUCH THING as "cash only", outside of Retardville. In the civilised world, cabs provide a service to all forms of regular payment.

What I'm talking about is drivers who agree to accept credit card payments and then change their mind and extort cash from the rider by refusing to complete the trip.

While that might happen in Retardville, it doesn't happen in the correctly regulated civilised world. A cabbie will plain and simply lose his license here if he/she does that. And rightly so.

Cabbies could do that if they wanted to, but they don't because they like cash transactions that they can conceal from tax authorities, so they made their own bed, and now they can lie in it.

As usual, you have no idea what you are talking about.

That's how it works around here. Your mileage may vary.

Of course it varies, I live in the civilised world.

[mistermack]

The whole fuck-up happens because of this stupid guarantee that governments give to their banks.
Isn't it about time that they started privatising the bank guarantees?
Why does capitalism need a socialist bank guarantee system?

Same with government debt. It should be insured on the market, not insured by the unwilling taxpayers. If you can't get insurance, you can't borrow. Unless you find a lender willing to take the risk.

Taxpayers shouldn't be guarantors for any loans. Basically, governments borrow to win the next election. That's all. There is no other reason for a government to borrow in peacetime.
Of course, many are borrowing to pay off the loans that the previous government took out to win the next election. But that's the same thing.

[piscator]

]And that's when you'll find out how much of the value you and Uber have driven off your vehicle, and realize you actually work for the auto finance company, the Mercedes tech, and the House of Saud, rather than yourself.

Well, it beats working for the US government. Besides, with my 796 FICO score, I can go out and buy a brand-new Benz GL-550 with all the fixings for only a hundred bucks more a month than I'm paying for this one. True, it's a six year note instead of a three year one, but that's okay with me. And if I buy another lease return with low miles that's Benz certified like this one was, I'll have a nice long warranty on it just as I did this one.

Goddamn. I'm sorry to attempt to talk such elementary economics with a person of your obvious financial sophistication. I hope you'll accept my sincere apology for ever doubting your business acumen. I was speaking well above my station.

[mistermack]

Goddamn. I'm sorry to attempt to talk such elementary economics with a person of your obvious financial sophistication.
I hope you'll accept my sincere apology for ever doubting your business acumen. I was speaking well above my station.

One day, you might get over how wonderful you are.
I won't hold my breath.

[piscator]

Goddamn. I'm sorry to attempt to talk such elementary economics with a person of your obvious financial sophistication.
I hope you'll accept my sincere apology for ever doubting your business acumen. I was speaking well above my station.

One day, you might get over how wonderful you are.
I won't hold my breath.

And one day, I might let you into my home through the front door. I wouldn't hold my breath though.

[piscator]

The whole fuck-up happens because of this stupid guarantee that governments give to their banks.
Isn't it about time that they started privatising the bank guarantees?
Why does capitalism need a socialist bank guarantee system?

Same with government debt. It should be insured on the market, not insured by the unwilling taxpayers. If you can't get insurance, you can't borrow. Unless you find a lender willing to take the risk.

The United States will loan you all you want. Just queue up right here.

[mistermack]

Goddamn. I'm sorry to attempt to talk such elementary economics with a person of your obvious financial sophistication.
I hope you'll accept my sincere apology for ever doubting your business acumen. I was speaking well above my station.

One day, you might get over how wonderful you are.
I won't hold my breath.

And one day, I might let you into my home through the front door. I wouldn't hold my breath though.

I doubt if I'd get past the front door without you bragging about what you paid for it. And the hinges.
Oh, and did I mention I had a boat? And some people work for me?
The days are too short to get past your front door.

[piscator]

Goddamn. I'm sorry to attempt to talk such elementary economics with a person of your obvious financial sophistication.
I hope you'll accept my sincere apology for ever doubting your business acumen. I was speaking well above my station.

One day, you might get over how wonderful you are.
I won't hold my breath.

And one day, I might let you into my home through the front door. I wouldn't hold my breath though.

I doubt if I'd get past the front door without you bragging about what you paid for it. And the hinges.
Oh, and did I mention I had a boat? And some people work for me?
The days are too short to get past your front door.

Or even make the trip, in your case...

To someone who grew up in some coal-fired row house from a DH Lawrence novel, my lifestyle would have to read like a fantasy novel, but my neighbors and party guests actually are Iditarod champions with movie deals, rock stars, and Bering Sea crabbers, so having a boat and a couple helicopter wreck stories doesn't really distinguish me in any way.

[Seth]

It's not just about being recorded, it's about how that recorded data is safely stored and used. Letting some drop kick cabbie who didn't even graduate from high school take control of that sort of information is unethical. Thankfully we here live in the civilised world where the government sets appropriate standards to protect the rights of the passenger.

Then don't ride in his cab.

As usual, you don't know what you are talking about.

Still don't need a union to get cameras. All you have to do is go to the legislature and make a compelling case for making them a legal requirement for public transportation.

Yes, we know you aren't a libertarian, but there's no need to make it so obvious. Once again, you back the State over the individual.

They also got security partitions installed in some troublesome cab areas around the country, which stops cabbies from being assaulted and killed. You're an idiot.

Lawsuits would have accomplished the same thing, cheaper, without having to chain employees to the corrupt influence of unions.

How is a lawsuit going to do it? That doesn't regulate anyone to do anything.

If a cab company has to pay millions in damages every time a cabbie is hurt, they are going to provide security equipment all on their own.

It's not up to cab companies, dip shit. It's up to the owner. If an owner doesn't want to install a safety screen, then the driver is shit out of luck.

Um, "cab companies" are the owner, dipshit.

That's why unions are so good. They look out for the rights of the worker. Waiting till 'x' drivers are killed and the years of lawsuits before getting reasonable safety standards is retarded thinking, even for you.

If you feel unsafe driving a cab without a safety screen, then don't drive that cab. Pretty simple actually.

You need standards. Even you sometimes accept that standards are necessary.

Don't need a union to make standards.

Nearly every fucking workplace standard came from the work of unions!

Horse and shit. But, even if arguendo that is true, unions have served their purpose in getting such standards enacted and they are now entirely redundant and unnecessary.

That's the job of the regulating authority, before which any and every cabbie can appear to petition for redress of grievances at exactly zero cost to them.

yes yes, we know you love the State.

And if you don't like the risks of being a cabbie, then don't be a cabbie.

Or be one and take advantage of the excellent work that unions do looking out for your rights and working conditions.

That's fine if I WANT them to do so and voluntarily pay them to do so. But if I don't, there's no reason they should be permitted to extort money from me.

No one is extorted to join a union here.

Given the nature and history of unions I find that very hard to believe, but even if true it's irrelevant to the US.

"Real world"?? You have no fucking clue how the real world works. I worked as a cabbie. I don't need to read your blinkered fantasies. Thanks to proper regulation here (which you lot obviously lack in the US; remember, YOU are the one who argues for less regulation) cabbies have to provide both eftpos and cash options. If they don't, they will lose their license, plain and simple.

Same rules apply here, and yet such extortion happens all the time.

Uber drivers aren't targets because they don't accept cash, it's all done by credit card that's been verified so that Uber and the driver know exactly who they are picking up, so if something happens, there's direct evidence available, which is why Uber drivers are very rarely robbed.

Good for you. But cabs are meeting a market (i.e. people who want the option to pay in cash). I thought you supported market mechanisms?

I'm fine with that as long as there is a big sign saying CASH ONLY on the door.

There's NO SUCH THING as "cash only", outside of Retardville. In the civilised world, cabs provide a service to all forms of regular payment.

Not around here.

What I'm talking about is drivers who agree to accept credit card payments and then change their mind and extort cash from the rider by refusing to complete the trip.

While that might happen in Retardville, it doesn't happen in the correctly regulated civilised world. A cabbie will plain and simply lose his license here if he/she does that. And rightly so.

Um, where's the union rep? That's what happens here. If you report a cabbie to the company, your complaint will be duly noted and then binned before you hang up the phone. If you happen to have the ability, under stress, to make note of the cabbie's license number and you take the (considerable) time to contact the Taxi and Limo Commission, the instant they open a case the taxi union goons step in and insist that you're lying and that the cabbie is completely innocent and you've just entered the twilight zone of bureaucratic red tape that will be festooned from everything in sight as the case spends years grinding through the system, which in the end leaves the cabbie with a fine and you with a hundred times the amount you lost in legal fees just to vindicate your rights.

Taxis are a fucking criminal racket of monumental proportions, which is why people are abandoning them in droves for services like Uber and Lyft where, if the driver gets consistently bad ratings, the Transportation Network Company shuts off their access to the app and they are out of business, just like that. And there's no appeal either because you're merely an independent contractor and you work at their pleasure, which means the pleasure of their clients. This gives drivers a strong incentive to give clients the best possible service, which is what I do and why I have a 4.94 overall rating.

Cabbies have no such incentive. Their incentive is to get you in the car, drive you around in circles for as long as they think they can get away with it, and then boot your ass out of the car so they can rip off someone else, and all because cab companies have no mechanism for passengers to rate drivers, nor do they fire drivers who give bad service.

And they get away with it because of the monopolistic nature of the taxi industry and it's nepotistic relationship with regulators...and unions.

But, Uber and Lyft and the others are breaking the taxi cartel down bit by bit and the whole taxi industry is going to have to change or die.

[pErvinalia]

That's why it is so good for us who live in the civilised world. The government more or less correctly looks after the regulatory issues. In the US, the problem isn't unions or government or the taxi industry. It's the selfishness your culture engenders. We simply don't have these problems in the civilised world. If only you had some experience outside the US you would know this.

[piscator]

Uber is in business to profit from the financial naivete of their drivers, who don't realize the reason they can write off so much of their Uberincomes as mileage is because they are actually spending more than that per mile to operate a vehicle.

'I pad my miles on my income tax returns, and show a loss that even lowers my wife's taxes. And the tips cover the gas/oil. IRS never sees the tips, or the cash munny bootleg rides I give either.' -- Hypothetical UberSucka

If you drive your vehicle enough to make cash flow with it, you're well over miles on any noncommercial vehicle lease and will write a check to GMAC before you lease another vehicle from them. If you have a commercial lease, you're still paying for every mile, only at a commercial rate and with commercial insurance, because insurance companies invented CarFax and every other vehicle tracing system in the world, and they'll know your VIN is involved in a commercial lease before you drive it off the lot.
If you're financing your vehicle, you are definitely upside down if you're putting more than 12k miles/year on it, which even if they are all paid miles that's not much of a living after you back out the costs of the lease, insurance, gas/oil, extra maintenance and repair. You ain't gonna finance another vehicle without paying for every mile you racked up on your trade. No free lunch.

Yep, the only way to come out ahead is to cheat, or have a vehicle that fixes itself for free...
Steal gas and oil? A little risky over time. Spend $5-$6k on a new dash/binnacle, put it in, drive like hell with zero concern for miles, then put in the original with low indicated miles back in at the end of the lease or when it's time to trade up? The Man is wise. That sort of fraud makes you an outlaw in his eyes. Riskier than hijacking fuel trucks. Saul is not cheap and would have to be included as yet another expense that has to come off your Ubergross, as Saul always gets his $$ on the front end...

In short, unless a driver "pays his vehicle first" he has very little chance to operate in the black over a 5-year span. If he does "pay his vehicle first", he's making about what he would washing lettuce for a non-union grocery store.

-------

Interesting article with some semi-real numbers here:


http://www.buzzfeed.com/johanabhuiyan/w ... .mqLbX14Vb

[mistermack]

Or even make the trip, in your case...

To someone who grew up in some coal-fired row house from a DH Lawrence novel, my lifestyle would have to read like a fantasy novel, but my neighbors and party guests actually are Iditarod champions with movie deals, rock stars, and Bering Sea crabbers, so having a boat and a couple helicopter wreck stories doesn't really distinguish me in any way.

I suppose you just can't help it. Maybe you don't know you're doing it.

[piscator]

Or even make the trip, in your case...

To someone who grew up in some coal-fired row house from a DH Lawrence novel, my lifestyle would have to read like a fantasy novel, but my neighbors and party guests actually are Iditarod champions with movie deals, rock stars, and Bering Sea crabbers, so having a boat and a couple helicopter wreck stories doesn't really distinguish me in any way.

I suppose you just can't help it. Maybe you don't know you're doing it.

I drop that shit on purpose, if that's what you mean. But it's true: It's not the thing you fling, but the fling itself. Alaskans are different, and if you've never been to Alaska you haven't a clue how we live.