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Taxi mogul calls UberX “exactly the same menace” as ISIS

Uber, but for the Caliphate
Uber, but for the Caliphate
Uber, but for the Caliphate
Uber + Matthew Yglesias

People have strong feelings about Uber. Especially people in the taxi industry. For example, Alex Friedman, president of the PA Taxi Association and general manager for a Philadelphia cab company, told a city Parking Authority board meeting that Uber X is the same as ISIS.

“I try to equate this illegal operation of UberX as a terroristic act like you see ISIS invading the Middle East. It’s exactly the same menace.”

Jon Geeting got the audio:

The analogy does not strike me as all that apt. ISIS, for example, beheads people and imposes a very harsh and inhumane version of Islamic law on the people it conquers en route to its dream of building a Caliphate.

A big problem with Uber X, by contrast, is that its drivers often don’t seem to know their way around the city. Nonetheless, most economists see more competition in the taxi market as a boon to consumers.

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