Why Uber is becoming the next partisan lightning rod

The company's spat with New York City is indicative of the new challenges of the sharing economy

Uber supporters rally in New York City
(Image credit: REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz)

Come 2016 and the presidential election, what you make of the "sharing economy" may become another partisan hill to die on.

Republican presidential hopefuls have embraced the on-demand ride-service company Uber, in particular, as a symbol of inventive, red-tape-defying entrepreneurial gusto. Democratic candidates are more wary, as anxiety builds that Uber and its ilk herald a new era of job insecurity.

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Jeff Spross

Jeff Spross was the economics and business correspondent at TheWeek.com. He was previously a reporter at ThinkProgress.