8 Ways Corporate Greed Is Perverting the Idea of the 'Sharing Economy'

[xchrom]

http://www.alternet.org/corporate-accountability-and-workplace/8-ways-corporate-greed-perverting-idea-sharing-economy

1. When sharing becomes gouging

Uber made plenty of headlines during a huge winter storm in New York in December, when riders found themselves paying three times the normal price to hail a car in the middle of the snow and frozen rain. Uber founder Travis Kalanick defended the “surge pricing” as a way to provide an incentive to drivers to stay out on the streets; but to many riders, the experience didn’t feel a whole lot like sharing. And as I learned all too well when I tried to use AirBnB to find a room in Austin, Texas, during the SXSW festival last year, Austin’s AirBnB hosts weren’t a bunch of Good Samaritans looking to lend out their couches — they were cold hard capitalists dedicated to charge as much as the market could possibly bear.

2. Venture capitalists do not give a damn about sharing. They are looking for big returns on their investment

Go over to the website for Peers.org, an advocacy group that describes itself as “a member-driven organization that supports the sharing economy movement.” First, scroll down to the bottom of the page and review the list of Peers’ “partners”: It’s a who’s who of “sharing economy all-stars.” Now go one step further, and look at where these companies are raising their money from: It’s a who’s who of Silicon Valley venture capital firms.

***SNIP

3. Peers — the aforementioned sharing-economy advocate that pretends not to be a lobbyist — has a vested interest in the industry’s growth

Peers.org originally described itself as a “grassroots” organization. Now it’s “member-driven.” Peers director Natalie Foster also made a bid deal, in the past, of stressing how Peers is not technically a “lobbying” organization. And yet, ever since its founding, Peers has been vigorously organizing citizen support for sharing-economy companies who’ve been fighting regulatory battles against local governments. Peers has been particularly active in support of AirBnB’s struggles against municipal laws restricting short-term rentals. One of Peers’ cofounders is Douglas Atkin, an AirBnB executive.

4. When “sharing” means not paying your fair share of taxes

One reason that Silicon Valley sees profit potential from the sharing economy is that sharing-economy startups are often able to avoid crucial costs that burden their competitors. Like, for example, taxes.