I guess he doesn't see the irony in his company's name and his words... - Granite Grok

I guess he doesn’t see the irony in his company’s name and his words…

Owner of Liberty Bell Cabs in New Orleans, Tony Makhoul, called Uber a “cyber terrorist organization.”

Liberty Bell – that artifact, that symbol, from our past – a symbol of our Independence and our Freedom.  Freedom for our lives and freedom in our marketplaces.  Or rather, the freedoms we used to have.  You see, Makhoul has a different idea about who gets to compete in which marketplace:

Makhoul previously showed his propensity for using words without regard for clarity or meaning in a statement made in July.“It’s hypocritical, preposterous and indeed disgusting that we are entertaining Uber in our market today.”

Uber, if you haven’t learned about it yet, is an app based taxi / ride sharing system – and a HUGE threat to Crony Capitalism.  In this case, it is the Crony Capitalism between city governments that restrict the taxi cab marketplace such that only so many taxis can service a given area – and keeps prices propped up for consumers.  Medallions, handed out by Government, can cost up (and over) a million dollars in an unregulated marketplace – per cab.  It is the ultimate collusion of politicians and the industry they “oversee” (in many cases, more like graft ridden) – for the benefit of the few at the expense of the many.

If Mr. Makhoul truly believed in Liberty, he would accept the new competition and  compete to provide even better service (which, as I found out, ain’t all that good).  Instead, he feels entitled as in “THIS IS MINE!”.  No, this is NOT a case of “liberty” – but it is a fight of who has a “right” to monopolize a certain sector of our economy and using the force of government to keep it for themselves.  Plain old rent seeking – seeking favored status with Government to lock in a profit and insulate itself from competition.

We have this same rot here in NH – on a per capita basis, we have all kinds of oversight boards and licensing agencies that often are composed of those allied with certain industries that get to determine who their competition can be and raise the barrier to entry for new competitors.  Think of our CON (certificate of Need) board that determines if new healthcare competitors are allowed in certain areas (so you know what the established concerns in those areas would do – and have done).

(H/T: TechDirt)

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