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[zstyles]

Portland Pounces On Groupon

http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/portland-bans-groupon_642121.html

    Can the government bar entrepreneurs from offering competitive prices, online discounts and prompt service merely to protect politically powerful insiders from competition?

    That is the question the Institute for Justice (IJ) and its clients seek to answer though a federal lawsuit they have filed challenging Portland, Oregon's anticompetitive limousine and sedan regulations.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1v2Tc8XP6w

[AquaMan]

Portland Pounces On Groupon

http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/portland-bans-groupon_642121.html

   Can the government bar entrepreneurs from offering competitive prices, online discounts and prompt service merely to protect politically powerful insiders from competition?

   That is the question the Institute for Justice (IJ) and its clients seek to answer though a federal lawsuit they have filed challenging Portland, Oregon's anticompetitive limousine and sedan regulations.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1v2Tc8XP6w

But the story doesn't support the allegation that taxicab companies are politically powerful insiders. And phrasing it that way requires them to prove that there is some kind of conspiracy to protect well connected insiders going on. If anything, it is the opposite. Look, there is a real battle going on for those fares in most cities. The big players have huge investments in Limo-Buses, Chauffered Limo's and Specialty vehicles and the economy is hurting them. They'll run at a loss just to pay bills. In reality, the city stands to lose a fleet of taxi's if they are not able to compete for the more profitable passengers and are limited by large money limo companies to only money losing fares. Should these taxi's fail, all that is left are buses and limo's and guess which one the non-wealthy are going to have to take? Guess which fares are going to be waiting hours to be picked up?

It sounds wrong, and it is wrong, but the city is probably trying to save what is usually a small type of business that serves the public good. Taxi-cab companies could offer limo service as well but it is costly to purchase the type vehicles that big money travelers are attracted to. Profit wise, the city could just sit back and let the market destroy the weaker provider, and increase the licensing and taxing of limo's to make up for it.

Libertarianism isn't as much fun in practice as it is in theory.

edit: BTW, I seem to remember that OK has some consumer protection laws that keep a retailer from running products at below cost in order to damage competitors. Perhaps Guido or some other practitioner knows its correct label. Not uncommon anywhere but states are usually not as activist as Oregon.

[heironymouspasparagus]

Portland Pounces On Groupon

http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/portland-bans-groupon_642121.html

    Can the government bar entrepreneurs from offering competitive prices, online discounts and prompt service merely to protect politically powerful insiders from competition?

    That is the question the Institute for Justice (IJ) and its clients seek to answer though a federal lawsuit they have filed challenging Portland, Oregon's anticompetitive limousine and sedan regulations.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1v2Tc8XP6w

I'm thinking someone has a good interstate commerce issue gonna happen here...interfering with groupon.  Fly in from Chicago and can't use your groupon?  Yeah, right...

[AquaMan]

Yeah, like flying into OK and not being able to find the same brew likely available in 49 other states?

If a state or city decides to protect itself from competition, it has many ways of doing so. I think they are being short sighted and complicating commerce but states often limit who does business within their borders and how they may conduct that business.