by Karl Denninger
Market-Ticker.org
Oh, it’s the “gig economy” eh?
The two companies spent more than $8 million to repeal a city ordinance requiring the fingerprint-based criminal checks and launched what turned into the most expensive race in the Texas capital’s history. Voters said by a margin of 56 to 44 percent they wanted the fingerprint checks to stay.
They are now both shutting down as of Monday in Austin, TX.
Here’s the problem, in a nutshell: Uber and Lyft are firms that put forward to the public what they call “ride-sharing” but it is in fact the provision of commercial driving that is being provided.