Leftist city council in Minneapolis changes terms of a valid contract between citizens

Most Americans never think about a thing called "contract law," but it's one of the things that either permit freedom or take it away.

That's because contract law prescribes the things two competent adults are allowed (by law) to freely execute a contract for, and that the courts will defend that agreement if one party decides he/she doesn't want to honor the contract.  (It actually lists the things the government considers invalid contracts, but the effect is essentially the same.)

So for example, if someone wants to start a business to pay people to drive other people to where they wanted to go, and would-be drivers are willing to freely accept the terms offered to do that, that agreement would be perfectly legal.  Cities and governments aren't parties to that agreement and thus have no say in whether the terms of the contract are fair or good or bad, as long as the parties freely agreed to them.

Well at least that's how contract law worked before Democrats took control of every aspect of life.  Now the Democrat rulers feel free to change the terms of any contract they wish.  Seriously.

In Minneapolis the city council recently voted that as of May 1st contracts between companies like Uber and Lyft and people who drive for them shall be altered--by council DECREE.

Under the new "city ordinance" (law) the two companies will now be ordered (!) to pay drivers the larger of either $1.40 per mile and $0.51 per minute, or $5 per ride.  

Hey, is there anything Democrats can't interfere with?  Why not DECREE that residents must pay their mowing service $30 per hour?  What prevents a socialist council from  DECREEING that private K-12 schools must pay the city a tax of $5,000 per student per semester, eh?  Cuz...reasons.

What's the difference in principle between those orders and changing the terms of a contract between drivers and ride-share companies, eh?

And of course once people accept that a city council can alter the terms of any valid contract between consenting adults, what kinds of contracts would be beyond the reach of the tyrants, legally?

Well here's at least some small pushback:  after the city council's DECREE, both Uber and Lyft announced they plan to stop offering their services in the city when the decree takes effect on May 1.  

Y'know, I don't know why city councils don't just run every business in each of "their" cities, eh?  Cuz they clearly think they know how to run businesses better than the owners.  I mean, look how precisely the city council calculated that "or 51 cents per minute" rule, eh?  Not 50, not 55, but exactly 51 cents per minute.

See, they arrived at that figure by carefully calculating...oh wait: nothing.  They pulled it out of the air to satisfy the people who own taxi companies.  But because it's "51 cents" people think it's carefully calculated from analyzing the business it wants to rule.

The brazen arrogance of these people is breathtaking.  And yet Democrats don't see a thing amiss here.

If you're old enough and had friends who visited the former USSR you may have heard that the communist party ran every store.  No competition was allowed.  And what do ya think was the result?

Shelves were almost bare.  Citizens joked that whenever people saw others standing in line on the sidewalk, they joined it, because it meant a store had something--anything--didn't matter what.

That's what decrees by the stupid dipshits who run leftist city councils produce.  They're just not smart enough to realize it.

Residents of that leftist shithole who need transit will still be able to get a taxi, but it'll cost more and you'll have a harder time finding one empty.  But fortunately for the tyrants on the council, after a month or so no one will even remember that there was ever a less-expensive alternative.

Imagine if city councils altered every contract to suit themselves.

Source.

https://thepostmillennial.com/uber-lyft-to-stop-services-in-minneapolis-after-city-council-passes-wage-requirement-for-rideshare-companies