A taxi driver in Washington DC faces layers of decision makers who determine his livelihood. The Taxicab Commission, who is overseen by the DC City Council. According to my friendly cab driver, 90% of the cabs in the city are owned by individuals, not big firms. Cool!However, with fuel costs having gone up 2x or 3x over the past bunch of years, it is hard to make a go of it. The powers that be changed the old zone system to a fare system, which also depressed their wages.
Compare this to the struggle going on in Oregon. Like at the Newseum, which has headlines posted out front from all 50 states - all news is local, all news is global.
My cab driver complained of corruption at the city level. Yet, they have been able to stave off the large firms, so far. An immigrant, he said his kids were training to be engineers. Yes, the continued cycle of immigrants climbing the food chain by generation (as a proof by induction - does that mean in several generations we'll all be rich? Famous?) Well now, there's a reason to keep tax rates low - so that when you and I are rich, we can actually do what we want with our money. Invest. Cure malaria. Etc.
Why taxis? This very month in an Oregon Legislature near you.. The taxi cab associations in this state are strong this year (an el nina year?) and trying to defuse the state's enforcement of taxi companies paying unemployment taxes. At a rate of ~3% for the first $37K income for each driver. Which is over $1000 per driver per year. They insist the drivers are independent contractors (who don't have to pay this tax).
Comparison? In the nation's capital, those stickers plastered inside cabs for passengers to view are "provided free of charge". The sticker says so. Who says they don't get perks.
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