Typical Capitalist

As we carry our day to day activities to sustain our lives there are two may concepts that govern all these activities, capitalism and socialism. The choice of a society to use either depends on the need of its members and on past experience. Capitalists are self-driven individuals who are motivated to continue in their business by the personal gain that comes with doing business (Therborn, 2016). This concept is ideology is supported by Adam Smith where these individuals get profit from their enterprises and are stimulated by this profit to want to get more. On the other hand, socialists, as explained in the writings by Karl Marx, looks at the greater good that comes to their community collectively rather than to them personally and they abide by policies provided by the central government. Business venture will tend to vary depending on the rules adopted by the society (Frank, 2016).

            We now move on to focus on the taxi industry, particularly the recent innovative form of transport called Uber. Introduction of Uber to the taxi market has led to a major revolution. Clients can now book taxis to take them to their destinations including the very remote places which the regular taxis won’t reach. However, this mode of taxi services has been faced with a lot of problems due to constrictive laws in different countries that oppose this Uber concept with the reason that Uber is evading the regulations put on taxis. An example of a bill approved to local law 2018/150 is that that limits the number of Uber cars in the city of New York, which is the largest market for this company. A similar law has been passed in Kingston leading to major drawbacks in the company progress. In London Uber had lost its operating licenses until June 2018 when they won a case in a court of law against the city council that restricted its services. Despite these restrictions, Uber celebrates the support of the cities of Indiana, Florida, Arkansas, Carolina and Ohio that allow uber to classify its drivers as contractors rather than employees. This business model ensures quality services that will help Uber to thrive in the competitive market (Jonas, 2016).

            On analysis of the laws the laws that govern this business model, we observe that certain general rules that regulate our regular businesses cannot support other business models and as such flexibility is inevitable is these new models are to flourish in our markets. The Uber concept is a new model that needs to be nurtured so as to grow in the market and this will depend on the laws that we put in place. If we tailor our laws to accommodate this model then the industry will expand and grow but if we put oppressive laws against such models, they tend to die and disappear from the market (He, 2017).

            The Uber model is justifiably good. This is so according to utilitarianism which is a theory that highlights that the best thing to do is the thing that produces the greatest satisfaction among most people. Going by this theory, Uber provides taxi-sharing services thus reducing the cost of transport for users while minimizing on time used in traffic jams and not to mention the reduction in pollution if multiple cars were to be used. The company creates employment for drivers and pumps millions into the economy. With relevant regulations, it is a concept that should be supported without second-guessing. 

Reference

Feiser, J. (2015). Introduction to Business Ethics, Second Edition

Frank, A. G. (2016). Transitional ideological modes: Feudalism, capitalism, socialism. In Critical Anthropology (pp. 93-110). Routledge.

He, Z. (2017). Risks and Regulations of the Sharing Economy. Chicago Policy Review (Online).

Jonas, A. (2016). Share and share dislike: The rise of Uber and Airbnb and how New York City should play nice. Journal of Law and Policy, 24(1), 6.

Therborn, G. (2016). What does the ruling class do when it rules?: state apparatuses and state power under feudalism, capitalism, and socialism. Verso Books.

Uber claims that it should have the right to compete with traditional taxi services, using a fairly typical capitalist, market-based argument.  You argue that Uber and similar companies should be nurtured, which indicates support for regulating laws.  How can these be reconciled?

Is there any pain caused by Uber?  (To competitors, to drivers, to the public, etc.)