> This quote gets way too much play on here. I see it being referenced every day, and I don't read most comment sections on HN. It's getting referenced a lot b

> This quote gets way too much play on here. I see it being referenced every day, and I don't read most comment sections on HN. It's getting referenced a lot because people can actively see the rug getting pulled beneath their feet. > This guy was predicting where things were going based on the principles of capitalism; it's more profitable to charge people in perpetuity than to charge them only once. It is not a conspiracy beyond that. I think it's actually being driven by a rise in cost of living, with an expected standard of living that is unchanging. You aren't for example going to downgrade your phone or car whilst working at the same company, and if they thing itself is getting more expensive, the only thing left is the type of ownership. It's already here in terms of loans, where you make lots of small payments (rent) to eventually own the item. In the UK there is a scheme "right to buy", where the rent is counted towards your eventual bid to buy a property. > If you don't like it, then avoid products with continuous payments and favor ones that don't as much as you can. That's not how it will happen. To work at X company and interact with Y service (which allows you to live), they require you have some minimum piece of equipment. You can either buy it outright (which your wage does not allow for) or loan the item (essentially rent it). You end up being forced into the system. An example could be a car to get to work, but you have to drive through a low emissions zone which is dictated by car manufacturing year. Another example could be an app on a phone where it requires a minimum OS version, only supported my the latest and greatest model. > If you want to own things cancel your streaming service subscriptions and buy movies and TV shows and books and music instead. You're preaching to the wrong person - but these things are only a matter of time. Music for example is becoming less and less of a choice, many artists have nothing but digital versions, and those are purposefully setup to prevent distribution, locking you into some hellish platform.