The opening of my latest column at EveryJoe:
“Recently, I met a young man in Miami. Instead of taking a taxi I decided to try Uber for the first time. Rafael (not his real name) showed up a few minutes later. Traffic was bad in rush-hour Miami, and along the way we started chatting.
“He was a Cuban, I learned, and until recently he had been a medical doctor in Cuba. He loved the work — the challenges and benevolence of medicine — and said that he was not a politics guy. But Cuban politics had an interest in him.
“Under Cuba’s communist system, Rafael was a government employee and earned $20 per month as a young doctor. I asked him to repeat that, certain that something had been lost in translation. But, no, his salary actually was about $240 per year …” [Read more here.]
Previous column in The Good Life series: Is Education Really Too Expensive?
I’m continually amazed about Cubans who do whatever it takes to get the hell out of dodge. Good for Raphael. I just set up my Uber account. I look forward to using it. You highlighted the consequences of the monopolistic powers of the taxi companies. Unfortunately, here in Chicago the drivers protest, however they don’t seem to realize they would benefit from leaving these companies and going solo.
Good point especially about the next generation of Chicago drivers, Scherie.