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Yes! God forbid someone isn't as cynical about the government! I mean obviously regulators that are regulating the cabs are interested in making the government a profit to ensure that the gov is the most profitable organiza....wait a second. Oh yah, the governments role is to provide for the common welfare of this nation. Silly me.

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That's its role in theory, but in practice, governments are made out of people, and people don't always have the motives they're supposed to. A government official might be more motivated by a desire to protect the profits of his friend's taxi company than by what's in the interests of society as a whole.

It doesn't always work out this way, but I think in the case of companies like Uber, the interests of the company, the customer and society as a whole all align. To be able to make a profit, Uber needs to be perceived as safe. The most effective way to do that is to actually be safe.

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