Jonathan Blow

Because taxes?

Last I checked, independent contractors paid taxes?

This is missing a lot of important context. The biggest issue being is that Uber drivers are responsible for car ownership and maintenance so they make far less money.

I agree that Uber drivers make less than taxi drivers did, but this has little to do with responsibility for car ownership and maintenance, because if they could, they would just raise prices high enough to cover that. The "problem" is that it's easy to drive a car and thus

Well there's an impression that Uber is a wealthy tech company and it should share its wealth with drivers via healthcare, retirement, etc. I don't think the argument is really about contractor status per se.

But Uber loses money ... ??

Because the Drivers medalions were worth an Apartment at their peak, older drivers paid theirs off and that was essentially a retirement fund for them. The old system allowed decent middle class drivers a means of getting a foothold and getting ahead that Uber doesn't

... by exploiting other, younger drivers? This is supposed to be good?

Because when done like it was in France etc. Its just legal talk to subvert workers rights. Think about it, of they make less, than they would as workers, its basicly a scam, same goes for all the gig companies.

Okay, but if the goal is to pay workers as much as possible, why not just write into law that the minimum wage is a million dollars a year? Why not a billion dollars a year?