Washington, D.C. is considering a bill that would require every cab driver in the city to own a special permit called a medallion. The total number of medallions would be capped at 4,000, which would reduce the current number of cabs by more than one-third and put thousands of drivers out of business. (The city government has no idea how many licensed cabs are in the district, though estimates range from 6,500 to 10,000.)
Now, consider what is states in the video, that almost all D.C. cab drivers are owner operators, working their own hours whenever they want to. But under state capitalism, that isn't the desired outcome of our overlords. We must be forced into wage slavery, and how dare we even consider a life without bosses (or without the state)!
A taxi medallion law (as exists in New York City) restricts competition, obviously, which is illegal if private business does it, but apparently is good for the public if the government imposes it. But in fact it's not good for anyone but the ruling class that wants to keep the masses under its dictatorial control. And it's not just awful, evil laws like this D.C. monstrosity that should be thrown out; all of the state's regulations and phony "laws" restricting your freedom of economic activity must go! For freedom to live, the state must die!
Consider… what would it actually take to start working for yourself as a self-employed taxi driver? A car, a mobile phone and maybe $50 worth of business cards to get you started. Proof of insurance might be helpful to show difficult customers worried about safety.
Those are about the only natural costs. But the artificial costs are huge…
You can’t just start driving a taxi independently like that under capitalism without risking being kidnapped by people who would call it an “arrest”. You have to pay a large amount of money for special licenses. You have the costs of complying with various special requirements that go along with those licenses. So one often has little real choice about whether or not to take a job working for someone else under the present system.-Brad Spangler
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