(individual) When the Seattle City Council stopped setting taxicab rates, efforts quickly began to compel the city to resume regulation. Are you surprised to learn that those efforts were financed and promoted by the owners of taxicabs? Do you believe their statement: We're doing it to keep people from being ripped off
?
No. Because it's unlikely that the city council will allow a regulated price to drop below marginal costs. As gas prices rose recently, the city mandated that prices rise. It doesn't allow anyone to undercut the cab cartel.