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Medium: How BIG is the GIG (Economy)?
By Steven Hill, Medium, September 9, 2015
No one knows the true size of the on-demand economy. That’s a major problem for US workers.
With all the headlines about Uber, Airbnb, Instacart and more, you’d think the gig economy is taking over. And you may be right…or you may be wrong.…
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Our streets as a public utility: How UBER could be part of the solution
By Steven Hill, Medium, September 2, 2015
With an eye on future development, it becomes increasingly important to view our streets as a public utility, as much as our electricity, sewage and communication systems. The subways, buses, personal autos, trucks, taxis and now on-demand ridesharing vehicles together form a transportation system for moving people and goods from place to place.…
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Why Travis Kalanick’s dream of an Uber on every street corner has a dim future
By Steven Hill, Pando, August 6, 2015
What kind of transportation system is in the public interest? The history of livery shows that lack of regulation leads to congestion, pollution and safety hazards. But the Uber app could be part of the solution.
Uber and Big Taxi are at loggerheads, with battle lines drawn and the public and politicians taking sides.…
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“New Economy, New Social Contract” — paper for the New America Foundation
By Steven Hill, New American Foundation, August 4, 2015
The US workforce, which has been one of the most productive and wealthiest in the world, is undergoing an alarming transformation. Increasing numbers of workers find themselves on shaky ground, turned into freelancers, temps and contractors. Even many full-time and professional jobs are experiencing this precarious shift.…
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The Future of Work in the Uber Economy: Creating a Safety Net in a Multi-Employer World
Steven Hill, Boston Review, July 22, 2015, BillMoyers.com, July 27, 2015
The ride-sharing company Uber, besides being a rapidly growing global phenomenon, has also become the poster child for the independent contractor loophole. In a few short years, the company claims that it has spread to some 300 cities and 58 countries, striking fear into the hearts of taxi companies everywhere.…
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HuffPost Live, with Steven Hill and Uber chief in NYC — should Mayor DeBlasio limit number of Uber cars?
HuffPost Live, July 20, 2015
On HuffingtonPost Live, Steven Hill, Josh Mohrer (Uber’s General Manager in New York City) and others discuss Mayor Bill DeBlasio’s proposed cap on the number of Uber cars as a way of reducing traffic congestion in New York City (click HERE to go to the broadcast)
Hill is author of the forthcoming book Raw Deal: How the “Uber Economy” and Runaway Capitalism Are Screwing American Workers (St.…
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Steven Hill on CNN, discussing the “Uber economy,” drivers and independent contractors
CNN, July 17, 2015
Steven Hill appeared on CNN to discuss the impact of the “Uber economy” on the hopes and dreams of American workers. Hill is author of the forthcoming book Raw Deal: How the “Uber Economy” and Runaway Capitalism Are Screwing American Workers (St. Martin’s Press, October 2015).
(click HERE to go to the broadcast)…
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Steven Hill in the New York Times, discussing Uber and the presidential candidates
New York Times, July 16, 2015
Steven Hill, author of the forthcoming Raw Deal: How the “Uber Economy” and Runaway Capitalism Are Screwing American Workers (St. Martin’s Press, October 2015) is quoted in the New York Times. From the Times:
In a race already dominated by the stalled fortunes of American workers and growing income inequality, Uber is standing in as an accessible symbol of both Democrats’ and Republicans’ economic aspirations and anxieties, much in the way Walmart, the giant retailer, embodied them eight years ago.…
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Steven Hill on KCBS discussing “independent contractors” and Uber
Steven Hill, KCBS, July 16, 2015 (click HERE to go to the broadcast)
Steven Hill, author of the forthcoming Raw Deal: How the “Uber Economy” and Runaway Capitalism Are Screwing American Workers (St. Martin’s Press, October 2015) is interviewed on KCBS radio in the San Francisco-Bay area about the increase in independent contractors (such as Uber drivers) and the impact on the labor force.…
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Kirkus Review praises Steven Hill’s book “Raw Deal: How the ‘Uber Economy’ and Runaway Capitalism Are Screwing American Workers”
Kirkus Review, July 15, 2015
Steven Hill’s Raw Deal is a “a provocative, remedy-based perspective on the joint complexities of economic stability and ever expanding technology.”
San Francisco-based veteran journalist Hill (Europe’s Promise: Why the European Way Is the Best Hope in an Insecure Age, 2010) examines the degenerative influences of technology businesses on the national economy. …
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Steven Hill on KALW: Is the “Uber economy” good or bad for workers
KALW, July 1, 2015
The California Labor Commission recently ruled that one of Uber’s drivers qualifies as an employee rather than an independent contractor. Uber drivers are usually treated as contractors. How should the laws surrounding these services develop? What do we need to know about companies relying on independent contractors?…
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Europe’s big question: Does it matter if Greece is in?
By Steven Hill, Al Jazeera, February 19, 2015
The current debate, being fought out by Greece and Germany, must start looking at the long term.
As many analysts and observers previously predicted, the eurozone crisis not only is not over, as some European leaders had boasted, but it has returned in a more virulent form.…
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Book review: Will the “rise of the robots” kill human jobs?
By Steven Hill, The National Memo, February 13, 2015
Historically, business leaders and technologists have portrayed new technology as a way to boost labor productivity, exports, and society’s wealth. This has long been considered part of the inevitable and necessary “creative destruction” of capitalist production that, while disruptive in the short term, is beneficial over time.…
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Steven Hill on the BBC: The Art of Filibustering
By Steven Hill, BBC, January 3, 2015
The British Broadcasting Corporation explores the Filibuster and how it is used and abused in the US Senate. Political commentator Steven Hill (at 16:34) says it is “one of the greatest threats to US democracy” and a “weapon of mass obstruction” that “completely undermines majority rule” as well as the US Constitution itself.…
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Ferguson in Flames — Steven Hill gives his view
by Steven Hill, ORF (Austrian public broadcasting), November 25, 2014
U.S. political analyst Steven Hill gives his view to Austrian public radio on the acquittal of police officer Darren Wilson for the shooting death of unarmed 18-year old Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, and racial politics in America. (go to http://fm4.orf.at/stories/1749967 …
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Will Obama Deliver on Deal with China to Reduce Carbon Emissions?
By Steven Hill, China-US Focus, November 17, 2014
Presidents Xi Jingping and Barack Obama recently reached a bilateral agreement to reduce carbon emissions. The landmark agreement, jointly announced in Beijing, includes new targets for carbon emissions reductions of 26 to 28% from the United States by 2025, and a first-ever commitment by China to stop its emissions from growing by 2030.…
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Book Review: ‘This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. The Climate’ by Naomi Klein
by Steven Hill, The National Memo, November 1, 2014
Naomi Klein’s new book, This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. the Climate
, is a call to arms in the global fight to reduce carbon emissions. Her manifesto appeared only days before hundreds of thousands marched in New York City to press for more resolute action by political leaders.…
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Compromise for Hong Kong: An Electoral College That Works
By Steven Hill, China-US Focus, October 8, 2014
Watching pro-democracy students take over the streets of Hong Kong raises conflicting feelings. One can’t help but cheer their drive for greater democracy and freedom, yet at the same time remember how similar aspirations were drowned in blood in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square in June 1989.…
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Why Merkel’s Foreign Policy For Eastern Europe Is Failing
By Steven Hill, Social Europe Journal, September 23, 2014
The fragile cease-fire in eastern Ukraine provides an opportunity for political leaders to reflect on how we arrived at this dangerous place of Cold War-like tensions between Russia, Europe and the United States. From Washington DC to Berlin to Warsaw, western leaders are scrambling to figure out where to go from here.…
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David Cameron’s Failures And The Great Shrinking
By Steven Hill, Social Europe Journal, September 17, 2014
In Prime Minister David Cameron’s desperate entreaties towards his fellow countrymen in the North, one can hear the resounding bleat of his own policy failures. The theme of Cameron’s tenure has become one of “The Great Shrinking”: close to losing Scotland and its 5.3 million people, and also retreating influence within the European Union and the world.…
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President Obama’s Challenge in Ferguson
By Steven Hill, ORF (Austrian public broadcasting), August 21, 2014
Political analyst Steven Hill gives his views on the killing of an unarmed 18 year old black man by police in Ferguson, Missouri, and racial politics in America. “It’s a sad, sad day…” (go to http://fm4.orf.at/stories/1744691/ and scroll down on the page to “U.S.…
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Consensus Building Through Dynamic Democracy
By Steven Hill, Lessons from Europe, September, 2014
This is a chapter from a book I contributed to: Lessons from Europe: What Americans Can Learn from European Public Policies, edited by Professor R. Dan Kelemen of Rutgers University
Political Democracy: Consensus Building Through Dynamic Democracy in Europe
A functioning political democracy is a prerequisite to having an economic system that works for everyone instead of just the better off and the powerful.…
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The EU’s Uncelebrated Achievements
By Steven Hill, IP/IP Journal (Berlin), May 21, 2014
Economic gains in Central and Eastern Europe more than icing on the cake
New research shows that living standards between eastern and western Europe are converging. But such bits of good news have been drowned out by more negative reporting in the run up to EU parliamentary elections on May 25.…
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Merkel’s flawed vision for Europe, Ukraine-Russia and beyond
By Steven Hill, Al Jazeera, April 13, 2014
Germany has been led by eight chancellors since 1949, and nearly all of them have been world-class leaders. Their vision and achievements have been immortalised in portraits that hang in the Gallery of Chancellors on the first floor of the chancellery building.…
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Merkel’s Shaky Europe
By Steven Hill, IP/IP Journal (Berlin), April 3, 2014
The Ukraine crisis points out the continent’s weaknesses — made in Germany
(German-language version here)
Until now, German Chancellor Angela Merkel has weathered the euro crisis well enough. But the Russian annexation of Crimea illustrates the fragile state in which the old continent still finds itself.…