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Is Uber killing the U.S. middle class?

3K views 47 replies 21 participants last post by  Jon77 
#1 ·

Uber is joining the ranks of mature tech giants that saw their leaders -  typically harsh entrepreneur-founders  -  replaced by experienced ex-bankers and ex-CEOs. Uber's CEO Dara Khosrowshahi, who was brought on board in 2017, is on a mission to shut down moonshot projects and cut costs to bring Uber to profitability.

Uber was an idea to solve a genuine problem, but it has evolved into the worst nightmare of every management consultant.

The company has achieved organically what every consultant strives for : It has severed the link between top management and workers. All of the intelligence and decision-making is kept at the C-suite level, while the workers are given the (illusion of) control and freedom over how and when they work.


For now, Uber also seems well equipped to withstand legislative challenges like AB5. The company is already testing app changes, such as letting drivers set their own rate, to meet AB5's tests and avoid automatic reclassification of its drivers to full-time employees.

These and other legislative changes will continue to challenge Uber, but they won't stop it because Uber is not a mere regulatory arbitrage; it is an evolutionary step in management.

Analysts are beginning to realize this. And that's turning Uber into the conviction call of 2020.
 
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#3 ·
There are a number of mechanisms at work demolishing the middle class. Uber will have to take a number.

With middle management out of the way the next agenda item is to wait for autonomously driven cars to remove the largest human resource from the equation; the driver.

I guess it's just called automation. or put another way, a true [C-suite] Money Machine.

What will top management do with it's time then? Have a circle jerk?

Maybe that's why women complain of the glass ceiling.
 
#7 ·
Uber isn't destroying the middle class, it's all the dumb ass uneducated, unskilled people who are too lazy to get an education.
Uber is a stepping stone, for others it investment money, and most are too dumb to take advantage of opportunities freely and abundantly available too them because they are lazy.
When we all become educated and skilled professionals, who's going to clean the toilets and wait the tables?
 
#9 ·
Uber isn't destroying the middle class, it's all the dumb ass uneducated, unskilled people who are too lazy to get an education.
Uber is a stepping stone, for others it investment money, and most are too dumb to take advantage of opportunities freely and abundantly available too them because they are lazy.
"dumb ass uneducated" is a little harsh. Yes, for many of them, it was the daunting prospect of college. But many people fall into those situations due to family or life situations.

But 👍 on investment money. I certainly consider myself the middle class. Uber has helped me there. I made $22K gross last year and invested $9K of it. Nearly maxed out my Roth as well as the wifey's with Uber money only.
 
#17 ·
This is only the beginning, the middle class will be gutted out over the coming decades.
This is not just Uber, this is happening across the board across various industries.
Its called automation, its a mega-trend that is still in it's infancy.
Paccar who owns Peterbilt and Kenworth are trying to get rid of the drivers in the cabs.
As is Volvo Heavy Freight and of course the Tesla semi project.
John Deer is building drones that will monitor crops automatically and they already have tractors that use gps grids to work the fields with minimum human input.
Amazon and their fulfillment warehouse use massive amounts of stocking robots.
UPS and Fedex are testing the possibility of removing the delivery drivers, Intuitive Surgical is working on machines that do surgery better than highly trained doctors, IBM's Watson is already better at detecting cancer than trained oncologists.
Language translator are now almost being replaced with software apps, and security guards are soon to be replaced by roaming robots that never take a nap.
Nvidia is working on machine learning computers that write their own code.
Retail, fast food, healthcare, heavy manufacturing, virtually every industry will be changed.
Artificial intelligence and robotics is a force that will have wide reaching impacts in every employment category.

Machines work 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year without breaks, holidays, or salary increases. Once installed, they cost only pennies on the dollar for electricity and sporadic maintenance. Machines do not demand better working conditions, holiday time, or exaggerated pensions.

The good news is this is a trend that will take years to fully come into fruition, so rather then trying to fight this unstoppable shift its better to make the trend your friend.
Find out who will benefit and who will lose, and position your bets accordingly.
 
#19 ·
I think there are advantages to the on demand economy, as it is on demand income for laborers as well. The key is to have the independent contractor aspect enforced and regulated. All complaints that are not fully verified also need to be disregarded by gig platforms. More worker's protections are necessary to keep the gig economy stable and thriving.
 
#21 ·
The cheap labor was keeping america a producing nation. Look at whats happened to American agriculture...since the gov outlawed foreign labor your farming exports have dropped considerably.

Trump is fighting for antiquated industries. He is single handedly putting candy in peoples hands while stealing everything out of the refrigerator.

Everyone outside the US sees this. Its shameful
 
#22 ·
Outlawed foreign labor? What clown world do you live in? Maybe stricter laws but ((((they)))) have ways around it. Look at all the picking crews, meat plants. Nothing but foreign labor. Many illegals. A green card or work visa is still foreign labor. Venezuealans are here running uber 24 7. Scams and all at the airport.No one cares. Now all of the trucking jobs are cheap foreigners woring for peanuts which is why I gave up my own authority last year. Best thing I did, 1 year after Trump took office we went from averaging 3 bucks a mile loaded to 1.80 a mile in a year and a half. Thats only because we knew where to go and when to be....but so do they eventually. And the brokers always find the cheap trucks.....1.20 loss in avh may not sound like much but when youre running 100k plus miles a year loaded. Do the math. Im a good ***** though.
 
#23 ·



Face it. Immigrants (documented or undocumented) do many jobs Americans dont want to do or are incapable of doing.

Trumps policies are hurting America in the long term. In the short term you are seeing a bump in available jobs but no one is paying attention to automation. Why do you think automotive companies are so quick to leave your country for production....
 
#24 ·
I would say it's not Uber. I would say it's more pointed to the trend of house holds now require 2 salaries in order to purchase a home. Something that has occurred over the course of 40-50 years. And now in order to be "well off", or at least at the level of living compared to the 1950-60s, you need 2 incomes. Housing prices have adjusted to this over the years and it's near impossible for middle class to purchase a home without a 2 income family. And then you add child care on top if it is 2 incomes. Just gets out of hand from there. So people then pickup these side gigs. If one spouse stays home, the other is working 2 jobs to meet the bills. Housing in the US has become a large issue over the last 20 years. Home prices in most areas are 2x what they were 5, 10, 15 or 20 years ago. Yet wages for a 1 income home have not adjusted as it's normal for households to now have 2 earners in the home.
 
#29 ·
And if youre an immigrant, you continue to get govt benefits. Meanwhile having 3 or 4 families in a home enabling them to pool enough money to buy a cookie cutter home right on top of their neighbor with nonyard no grass. 5 cars parked in driceway streets have so many cars parked you cannot even naviagte the neighborhoods to dropnoff pax or pu. Garbage morning....wow. full cans plus 5 bags stacked on top. Yep American Dream.
 
#28 ·
Old news. And the idiot walks in front of a car and gets hit if you watch the video. Granted Uber was partially to blame as they had disabled the "hard breaking emergency" code for some stupid reason. The car (software) saw the pedestrian, but because that code was disabled the car didn't hard break.

Pedestrians get hit and killed all the time doing the same stupid thing yet it's not blown out of proportion like that story.
 
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