From the Tom Woods Letter:
Two unrelated things to get off my chest today:
(1) Donald Trump just posted this (emphasis mine):
“Our Country is a disaster, a laughing stock all over the World! This is what happens when you have OPEN BORDERS, with weak, ineffective, and virtually nonexistent leadership. The DOJ, FBI, and Democrat state and local prosecutors have not done their job. They are incompetent and corrupt, having spent all of their waking hours unlawfully attacking their political opponent, ME, rather than focusing on protecting Americans from the outside and inside violent SCUM that has infiltrated all aspects of our government, and our Nation itself. Democrats should be ashamed of themselves for allowing this to happen to our Country. The CIA must get involved, NOW, before it is too late. The USA is breaking down – A violent erosion of Safety, National Security, and Democracy is taking place all across our Nation. Only strength and powerful leadership will stop it. See you on January 20th. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
Trump rightly criticizes the Department of Justice, the FBI, and left-wing prosecutors.
But note the sentence I emphasized: he then appeals to the CIA — which is as much against him as any of those other institutions — for unspecified help.
Mr. President, I’m afraid the situation is worse than you think.
(2) On New Year’s Eve, a normie wrote this:
“Not capping prices on the most popular night of the year for folk to drink and drive is actually dangerously irresponsible on Ubers [sic] end.”
It’s crazy that things like this still need to be explained.
What ways are available to us to maximize rides on the busiest night of the year?
Well, there’s slavery: we could force people to become Uber drivers against their will.
Or two other options: fix prices, or let them fluctuate.
We’ll assume the slavery option is ruled out. So how are our other options looking?
(a) Fixed prices. Rides can cost no more than $30. Some people will get rides at $30 — a bargain on New Year’s Eve. A huge number of people will get no rides at all, and these people do not fit into the normie calculus at all. They never do.
Do fixed prices encourage more drivers to give rides that night? Why would they? This is the most popular night of the year to go out and have a good time — how would standard pricing entice someone to drive instead?
At $30, plenty of people will order Ubers alone, as single passengers, so a lot of cars will drive around mostly empty, and space that could have been used to transport people will be wasted.
At $30, people who could have made other arrangements — walking, getting a ride from friends or family, whatever — won’t go to the trouble, since Uber is such a cheap option.
In other words, this already challenging situation will be squeezed from both sides: a lower supply of drivers than would otherwise be the case, and a higher supply of riders than would otherwise be the case.
Our normie never considers the possibility that it’s actually “irresponsible” not to let the market allocate resources on the busiest night of the year, and leaving so many people without rides at all.
(b) Let prices fluctuate. This approach encourages more drivers, seeking the unusual profits. The increase in drivers, in turn, pushes fares down naturally.
The higher fares mean people are more likely to share rides, and thus getting the maximum use out of the limited supply of cars trying to cater to an abnormally high number of riders.
The higher fares also mean that people who don’t urgently need an Uber ride won’t request one, thereby making more Ubers available for people who genuinely do need them.
