Another Cakewalk Interview and The Efficiency of the Free Market

"Corruption is government intrusion into market efficiencies in the form of regulation." - Milton Friedman

From now on when I think of the myriad benefits of The Free Market (Really, I'm probably more of a socialist) my mind will settle on one example: Catching a taxi in this town.  In my travels, which are by no means extensive but perhaps sufficient for a base level discussion, I have hailed all manner of taxis in all manner of urban centers.  I'd say that most major cities fall into two categories:  (A) The "Just Hail a Cab on the Street" city, or (B) The "Phone One and They'll Come Get You" City.  Dubai has both options available, but with the state owned monopoly that is Dubai Taxi both methods occasionally make you wish to end your life by stepping into traffic.  

This morning I made a trip to the al Baraha Hospital (pictured left) for a few medical tests required for my visa.  It's about 10 minutes away by car, so I went down to the main road to catch a taxi about 45 minutes early.  I attempted both methods simultaneously for maximum effect, waiving at taxis with one hand (all of them busy) and calling the Dubai Taxi Service Line (phone number also busy) with the other.  After 40 minutes I got through to Dubai Taxi.  They told me that it was pretty busy right now in my area and they would call me when a taxi in my area was available (It's 6 hours later now so I guess I won't be getting that call)  After walking a around for awhile (104 degrees today) I managed to grab a taxi after it dropped an injured man off at a local hospital.  I arrived at al Baraha hospital, spent 10 minutes there getting my tests, only to repeat the exact same ordeal when I left.  Should have asked my cab to wait.  It would have been well worth it.

My point?  The government run company Dubai Taxi is not meeting the demands placed upon it.  A "free taxi market" would put enough taxis out there.  The taxi company with the busy signal for 40 minutes on its customer service line would quickly go out of business.  Perhaps this Free Taxi Market would employ more people, feed more families, get people around faster, increase the overall livability of the city?  Of course it might also screw over the working man, fail to pay him a living wage... Maybe the machine of capitalism really is oiled by the blood of the workers.  Maybe I'm being a selfish, spoiled capitalist pig, grown fat on toil of the exploited lower classes, but I'm still inclined to think we can find a happy medium. 

My "interview" today for the temp position at HCT:  Alicia's two bosses basically just wanted to tell me how Alicia has brought a cool, refreshing rain onto their dry, wasted world allowing the library's potential to finally blossom and if she were to leave the college they would retreat beneath a shroud of depression never to return.  And they hoped anything they could do for me to keep her home life happy would encourage her to stick around.  So yes, I can have the job.