I don&#x27;t think &quot;sharing economy&quot; is the right word to use here, since the article focuses its discussion entirely on ride sharing. I think that the population selling timeshares on their home, such as via Airbnb, are in different circumstances.<p>I also take issue with the label of &quot;serfs&quot;, because unless you&#x27;re an elite who works only for aesthetics or personal fulfillment, the rest of California must work to live. Everyone is serving somebody. Only a few elites in society get to collect rent on important life services or materials, which is the implication given by &quot;serf&quot;. The relationship between customers and drivers is surely not one described by serfdom.<p>The sharing economy is not the right lens to use for inquiring &quot;why are some people exploited?&quot;<p>If we assume (1) a generally free market where important life materials and services are provided for almost exclusively on the market, (2) that leverage matters in trade, (3) that advantage begets advantage, and that disadvantage begets disadvantage, and thus growing disparity is inherent to generally free markets, (4) that individuals and families begin accumulating debt from the start of life, then I think it&#x27;s pretty easy to see why exploitation occurs. These are factors, inherent to our market configuration, interacting with each other.<p>Uber and Lyft going away isn&#x27;t going to make life better for the generalist unspecialized (highly fungible) worker, and if it does, it&#x27;d only be a band-aid. My Point 3 means that disparity should only grow.<p>I&#x27;m not saying partial solutions or band-aids are bad, but they aren&#x27;t convincing solutions. Regulations can only do so much for the fact that ride sharing workers lack leverage.<p>A union can also be a partial remedy to the leverage problem, which I would urge Uber, Lyft, and other workers do. Yet, I wonder what good it will do when automation comes along.<p>Hard times are ahead for the generalist worker, and appeal to decency is an inadequate solution. We should speak of the hard mechanisms causing a problem, and we should speak of the hard mechanisms which would convincingly solve that problem.