A New York Times article about the ride-sharing company Uber reports:
Uber exists in a kind of legal and ethical purgatory, however. Because its drivers are independent contractors, they lack most of the protections associated with employment. By mastering their workers' mental circuitry, Uber and the like may be taking the economy back toward a pre-New Deal era when businesses had enormous power over workers and few checks on their ability to exploit it.
This is hypocritical, because the New York Times print edition is itself delivered by "independent contractors" and is full of articles written by freelance writers and images by freelance artists and photographers who are also "independent contractors." It's also inaccurate and alarmist.
Uber "may be taking the economy back toward a pre-New Deal era" — but it may not be, which is why the Times uses the weasel word "may" rather than more declarative language like "is." When New Deal institutions like Social Security, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the National Labor Relations Board, and the Securities and Exchange Commission are abolished, wake me up. Until then, the Times would be better off finding ways to write about Uber without ridiculous hype blaming the company for the end of the New Deal.