Today in New York City Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton stood up and delivered her vision of America’s economic future.

She said a lot about income inequality, a lot about big corporations, a whole lot about the middle class, and she laid out her plan for the country.

I’m not going to try and unpack everything in Mrs Clinton’s speech. There are a bunch of economists, pundits, and politicians who will do that in the days, weeks, and months to come.

But I will say something about Mrs Clinton’s comments on the sharing economy.

The Sharing Economy

As the co-founder of DOZ, a marketing company that is proudly crowd-powered, I know a little about the economics of the sharing economy. Well actually, I know a lot. I’ve seen it grow in the United States, I’ve seen it grow — and helped it grow — here in my native France.

I’ve seen the way that the sharing economy has empowered individuals to improve their lives by escaping the grind of the 9 to 5. I’ve seen the way that college students can pick up part-time work in the sharing economy and how families can rent out that spare room in their home on airbnb. I’ve seen mothers and fathers drive one night a week for Uber and happily earn a little extra cash to pay for a night out, and I’ve been happy to spread the sharing economy to more than dozen countries around the world as DOZ has expanded over the last there years.

And it’s because I have seen all of this success I am able to say this about Mrs Clinton and her comments on the sharing economy.

She’s wrong.

Mrs Clinton understands that the sharing economy is changing the face of employment and the employer-employee relationship in the United States. And she’s right to assert that a person who works as an independent contractor working in the sharing and gig economies lacks the healthcare coverage, employment protections, and regular salary that a full-time employee enjoys. For Mrs Clinton this is a problem in urgent need of a solution — and the solution for Mrs Clinton is more government regulation.

But what Mrs Clinton needs to understand is that the sharing economy is not a problem that requires a solution.

The sharing economy is a solution to the ambitions of hard working people across the country.

The Sharing Economy Solution

The sharing economy allows workers to uncouple themselves from the office job. The trade off between the security of a full-time job and the liberty of choosing when and where to work is one that people are increasingly happy to make.

Not forced. Happy.

The sharing economy is disrupting established companies in the transport, accommodation, and home services sectors for the first time in generations. On-demand services — everything from laundry to food delivery to mail and grocery shopping — abound in cities across the country. For a couple of dollars you can order a gig, and those dollars flow to the college student looking for a few extra bucks between classes, a mom picking up someone else’s bread and milk on her trip to the store, and the veteran who enjoys helping people put their flat-pack furniture together.

Companies like Uber, airbnb, TaskRabbit, and DOZ empower people to make the most of their time, their resources, their skills, and their talents in a world economy that is becoming more global, more diverse, and more exciting very day. The people who work in the sharing economy love the flexibility that the work brings, they love having a chance to make some extra money on the side of their day job or studies, and where they choose to embrace the sharing economy lifestyle entirely — to be a ‘gig worker’ full time — they do so freely and with the intention of living the sort of life they control.

Mrs Clinton is seeking to turn back the clock and send these sharing economy workers either back to the daily grind, or regulate the companies that drive the sharing economy until it is no longer viable. The end result is going to be bad for the workers and the US.

How can I be so sure?

Because it is exactly what I saw recently in France.

Uber Pop vs Taxi Drivers

Uber Pop was recently banned in France after violent protests by taxi drivers across the country. By shutting down airports and highways, by intimidating drivers and Uber Pop users, and by marshaling the support of the ‘old economy’ to their side, the taxi drivers succeeded in driving Uber Pop out of business.

But Uber weren’t the only losers.

The drivers who had been earning an income offering Uber Pop rides in French cities were now out of work — they lost.

The commuters, tourists, and anyone else who relied on Uber Pop’s on-time, app-enabled services were now stuck waiting for expensive, late, and technologically inept taxis again — they lost.

The only real competition to the taxi drivers for expensive city-to-airport trips disappeared — competition kept a lid on price rises, now there is no competition and anyone traveling will be a loser because of that, too.

The only winners were the taxi drivers who maintained their privileged position, could shut their eyes to technological and social change for a few more years, and almost — almost — convince themselves that they had done the right thing.

Embrace, Don’t Attack

Mrs. Clinton, you might not roll back or regulate the sharing economy to the extent that France has with Uber Pop. But stifling creativity, social evolution, and the new economy in any way is only going to make your country more like my country.

And when it comes to the new world economy, that’s a bad thing.

The sharing economy is here to stay. It is exciting, it delivers freedom for consumers and workers, and it drives innovation. Regulating the sharing economy into the ground is not good for America; it’s entirely the opposite.

Mrs Clinton, it’s not time to attack the sharing economy.

It’s time to embrace it.