Glenn Harland Reynolds wrtites Politicos put past before progress in The USA Today:

excerpts:

Cynical or not, these statements accurately describe why economic progress is so much harder today than it once was.  But why is it so much harder?  And why are so many politicians coming out against innovative new services such as Uber or Airbnb?  The answer, I think, is simple: Those new services offer insufficient opportunities for graft.  The old services they compete with — hotels or taxi companies — offer politicians a better deal, even if the deal they offer for consumers often isn’t as good.  And politicians back the companies because — and be clear about this — politicians don’t care about you, they care about using their positions to accumulate money, power and prestige.

Just imagine that you’re a big-city mayor.  If taxi medallions — granting the right to run a taxi to a limited number of people — sell for six figures, the people who own them are heavily invested.  They’ll offer lots in the way of money, political support and votes to a politician who will protect their investment from competition. Thus, even though services like Uber (which requires no medallions) are cheaper and offer service in poor neighborhoods where taxis won’t go, for a politician, it’s a no-brainer: Support your supporters. The result is a host of regulations and taxes designed to protect old businesses from new competition.

HKO

The Uberization of America is a potent force against progressivism, and will cost them the support of the millennials.  Politicians do not sell solutions: they sell problems they create so you will give them political power to save you.  Be sure that the guy you praise for putting out the fire is not the one who started it.

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