Who does your local, deeply committed, compassion filled progressive care about? #2

So in our previous episode we highlighted the celebrated 'progressive' and frequenter of Cuban non-union subsistence wage resorts cum whorehouses, BIll DeBlasio's decisive efforts to cut the bottom rungs off of the opportunity ladder by smashing the best performing public schools in NYC - the charters.  You go get 'em Bill, kick those little kids asses, don't they know that the unions own the schools?  It's just the way things are.

Now we turn our spotlight to the oh so progressive burg of Seattle.  Filled to the brim with compassion, love for diversity and alternative lifestyles and innovative business models, surely Seattle progos are, you know, progressive.  Sigh, silly glasshopper, ploglressive politician not interested in plogless, interested in power!  Carpe Diem has the tale:

On Uber’s blog yesterday, it announced a new series of price cuts for uberX:

 What a lot of folks don’t know about Uber is how inexpensive it is to ride uberX. For the last two years, we have worked our asses off to introduce low-priced alternatives to cities worldwide. We’ve rolled out uberX in dozens of cities and rolled out dozens of price reductions across the country. It’s hard work but has big pay off with millions more people able to experience the Uber magic.

Today we’re taking things to a whole new level.

What if Uber was actually the cheapest ride in every Uber city? What if we lowered rates in 16 of our 24 uberX cities? And what if some of those cuts pushed the envelope of what we even think is possible? That’s exactly what we’re doing. On average across all Uber cities, uberX is 26% cheaper than a taxi.

We’re cutting prices by 15-34% in Chicago, SF, Seattle, Los Angeles, Phoenix, and Orange County. And ten additional cities will also see cuts – Minneapolis, Atlanta, Sacramento, Tucson, Indianapolis, Denver, Dallas, Baltimore, Charlotte, Nashville.

Here’s how one local taxi cartel is responding, with the assistance of its city government enablers in Seattle:

Seattle on Monday became the first city to limit the number of drivers for so-called rideshare companies such as Lyft, uberX and Sidecar.

The regulations, approved unanimously by the City Council, will limit each company to 150 drivers on the road at the same time, collectively limiting them to 450. UberX, Lyft and Sidecar — which together have more than 2,000 drivers in the city — say the limitation destroys their business model and ability to maintain speedy response times.

Taxi owners and drivers breathed a sigh of relief when the caps, which would last at least another year, were approved.

So who does this 'common sense' regulation by Seattle help?  Consumers who will find it harder to find and pay more for transportation?  Or the people who would have been employed by Uber and co? Or the Taxicab Cartel?  Hmm.  It doesn't seem to be diverse, or innovative or hip or frankly anything but - ooh, I know!  another money conveyor belt:  monopoly rents to the medallion owners who pass some of it back to their oh so progressive pals in the government.  "After all, only the rubes get nailed and who ever got ahead in politics by worrying about rubes?  If they're stupid to vote for us regardless they deserve their reaming."

Frederic Bastiat had some good advice on his deathbed:  “Treat all economic questions from the viewpoint of the consumer, for the interests of the consumer are the interests of the human race.”

And the interests of progressive urban politicians are the interests of power hungry, authoritarian thugs in thrall to monied interests.

It's all so progressive.