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I don't know of many examples of how badly gov't involvement corrupts business than this excerpt from the Cohen saga?
...The Shatayners run one of the largest taxi operations in Chicago and own more than three dozen medallions. Taxi medallions, which were once very valuable, are licenses that give the owner a right to operate taxicabs in a particular city. Values have plummeted with the arrival of ride sharing operators Uber and Lyft.
...New York City medallions were valued in 2014 at an average of $1 million per medallion, according to the New York Attorney General's office. Last month, medallions sold in foreclosure for as little as $175,000 and an average of $355,131, according to city records....
Many big cities like Toronto had the same type of Taxi Medallion racket, with a handful of fattened owners sitting at home lording over dozens,if not hundreds of taxi medallions while putting the worst maintained cars on the road and often charging drivers a minimum fee to go out and use the cab, regardless of how many fairs they could get making some drivers work for well below minimum wage and even losing some money on some nights.
These medallion owners were notorious for donating big to city official political campaigns to ensure the protection of their racket and only Uber and such services were able to brute force break it up as gov't was quite happy to maintain and protect it.
This is a prime example of how gov't distorts and hurts both business and the consumer.
(lets not make this thread about Trump or Cohen specifically as there are already lots discussing that.)
...The Shatayners run one of the largest taxi operations in Chicago and own more than three dozen medallions. Taxi medallions, which were once very valuable, are licenses that give the owner a right to operate taxicabs in a particular city. Values have plummeted with the arrival of ride sharing operators Uber and Lyft.
...New York City medallions were valued in 2014 at an average of $1 million per medallion, according to the New York Attorney General's office. Last month, medallions sold in foreclosure for as little as $175,000 and an average of $355,131, according to city records....
Many big cities like Toronto had the same type of Taxi Medallion racket, with a handful of fattened owners sitting at home lording over dozens,if not hundreds of taxi medallions while putting the worst maintained cars on the road and often charging drivers a minimum fee to go out and use the cab, regardless of how many fairs they could get making some drivers work for well below minimum wage and even losing some money on some nights.
These medallion owners were notorious for donating big to city official political campaigns to ensure the protection of their racket and only Uber and such services were able to brute force break it up as gov't was quite happy to maintain and protect it.
This is a prime example of how gov't distorts and hurts both business and the consumer.
(lets not make this thread about Trump or Cohen specifically as there are already lots discussing that.)
