You can also spin this as "keeping people who need a ride poor by raising the price of the good they depend on", or even "preventing the poor from working by making it uneconomical for them to get to work".

If you're going to argue in favor of breaking competition, you absolutely have to have a better argument than "it's good for the sellers." There's two sides to every economic transaction, and I see no evidence that cab-medallion-owners are drastically more worthy people than cab-riders.

>Otherwise known as "keeping people employed at a living wage."

Or, stated differently, keeping some people employed at above-market wages and others unemployed with no wages at all.

>When the market decides that human labor is worth nothing, it's irresponsible not to contradict it.

If that ever happens we'll know regulation is needed.

In many of these cities, it is impossible to flag a cab at any price during peak hours. It would be far more efficient for the government to top up the earnings of low-earners than to manipulate the supply of cabs.