or, Government Is Hard.
At The Imaginative Conservative Bruce Frohnen muses about the “gig economy”. The post is difficult to excerpt but these two passages seem to express the kernel of his thoughts:
An old-line Social Justice Warrior and even a traditional conservative could find plenty of evidence to support the claim that the gig economy is exploitive. Ironically, if typically enough, the worst offenders, here, are the supposedly civic-minded tech companies. Corporations like Microsoft are massive promoters of the gig economy. A number of these powerful corporations have taken advantage of lax immigration rules to bring in guest workers who will toil for half the wage demanded by labor markets in the United States. They then leverage this “diversity†to force many of their remaining American workers to accept being pushed off the payroll into lower-paying, insecure contract positions that lack employee benefits. This is not the market economy at work. It is, rather, abuse of political power to undermine labor market forces for the benefit of a few very rich and powerful manipulators.
and
Many would call the new economy freer, but what I see too often in those who seek gigs is isolation and constant stress. Some might say this is what entrepreneurship requires. But many who are very good engineers, or programmers, or warehouseman, are not so good at sales. Are we not, then, rewarding people for a skill set (sales) that has little to do with actually producing useful things? Are we not devaluing yet more the skills and hard work that built our successful economy and society?
Workplaces are, or should be, communities. I mean this in a very practical sense. Most of us forge friendships at work. Sometimes we become close, sometimes that friendship is merely a kind of trust that we will look after one another on the assembly line, at the meeting, or in covering for one another’s failings to make certain the company does not lose contracts or customers. However common it may have become, workplace sabotage is known even today as something dishonorable and harmful to the company. But the common habits, outlook, and shared assumptions that make professional trust and honor possible are much more difficult to form when we become mere casual acquaintances who happen to meet up on a particular gig. As church, community, or other local associations die when we no longer actually do things together on a regular basis, workplaces die when people no longer come together at a particular place.
Let’s consider just the companies he mentions by name. Microsoft in its present form exists solely due to intellectual property law. Ironically, without the copyright protections that he freely violated, Bill Gates would still be working in his parents’ basement. As it gained wealth and power Microsoft has been able to mold the laws to suit itself.
Uber and Lyft are niche companies that exist because of bungled regulation. The taxi industry is tremendously regulated and notoriously corrupt. What the existence of Uber and Lyft tell us is that the regulated price for taxi service was set above the market clearing price.
I also think that underestimates the importance and value of sales but that’s the subject for another post.
My point in all of this is only that promoting, formulating, and maintaining effective policy is hard. However, it is necessary because the state of nature is worse. Once a policy has been adopted it won’t be set in stone. It must be changed if found ineffective or if circumstances change. And there will always be those who want to ensure that the law furthers their own, personal ends. Eternal vigilance, etc.
