Salon calls ride-sharing service Uber 'the embodiment of unrestrained hyper-capitalism'

Brett T. | 8:59 PM on August 31, 2014

What has Salon does this time, and are we sure it’s not the Salon parody account? It’s published a piece entitled, “Why Uber must be stopped,” noting that the app-driven ride sharing service “is proving to be the embodiment of unrestrained hyper-capitalism.”

@scottlincicome @EWErickson I don't understand what he's trying to say. Just using Uber to bitch about capitalism?

— w t n (@WTrentNichols) September 1, 2014

Pretty much. What writer Andrew Leonard is trying to say is this, whatever this means:

Whichever side you fall on, the story is fascinating. There’s little doubt that Uber is the closest thing we’ve got today to the living, breathing essence of unrestrained capitalism. This is like watching Andrew Carnegie or John D. Rockefeller in action. This is how robber barons play. From top to bottom, the company flaunts a street-fighter ethos.

…

The real question we should be asking ourselves is this: What happens when a company with the DNA of Uber ends up winning it all? What happens when the local taxi companies are destroyed and Lyft is crushed? When Uber has dominant market position in every major city on the globe? “UberEverywhere” isn’t a joke. It’s a mantra, a call to arms, a holy ideology.

So, in short, Uber’s doing pretty well?

@scottlincicome @EWErickson Sans the dumbass title, the article left me cheering for whichever is the victor at capitalism at it's purest.

— Leigh (@sybilll) August 31, 2014