It's amusing to read the rant about "politically protected taxi monopolies."  The highly regulated taxi companies are just taking advantage of Anchorage's limited entry permit system; isn't that just capitalism at its finest?  

Uber is the same as taxi companies in that they both screw their drivers by calling them independent contractors, which they are not.  However, Uber also wants to scam cities by claiming they are not transportation companies so they can't be regulated in any way.  Scams like Uber abound these days; consumers and workers lose.