Beware, beware… more than Greeks bearing gifts

We all know the story of the Trojan War and the grand deception that destroyed that ancient city. (Or rather, those old enough or fortunate enough to get a decent education do. Hmmm.

On second thought: Quick review: the Greek forces had besieged the walled city for a very long time but failed to breach its walls. So they appeared to be abandoning the effort and sailing away. But only after constructing a great wooden horse, some kind of tribute to the gods. When they sailed away, the seemingly victorious defenders of Troy came out and decided that the huge wooden horse was a suitable victory monument and dragged it into the city. Of course, the Greeks had filled the body of the horse with a squad of elite warriors. That night, they descended from the horse, slaughtered the night guard, opened the gates, and welcomed their “departed” comrades into the city. Then did the usual raping, killing, looting, and burning.

Today, various companies, institutions, and government agencies are playing a kind of game very similar to the Trojan Horse scam.

A correspondent, Bob Malone, reminded us of this recently. It is called the “subscription economy,” and it is a direct application of that evil Regressive claim that “in the future we will own nothing, and be happy about it.”

What is the subscription economy? In a nutshell, you don’t actually buy a piece of software, or a service, or even a solid piece of something: instead you get a subscription to it. The producer or seller still owns it, but you get to use it as long as you subscribe – pay them an annual or monthly or daily fee. But it does not belong to you: you just are borrowing it for the time you pay for it.

Not only that, but the rental, the subscription, has more conditions than the most nannylike of homeowners associations. Where the entire board and officers are Karens.

There are lots of versions of the concept. And the idea is very much like the concept of renting something: a house, a building, a tool, or even a vehicle. Indeed, we think that long term car leasing might be the best example of this increasingly common practice. You don’t buy that nice, comfortable 2026 Zoomer coupe for $50,000 on a 60-month 10% loan (That’s $1,062.35/month and total payments of $63,741 over five years.) Instead, you lease it. One credit union claims you will supposedly save $5,300 per year over the five years. But you don’t own it, and you may have significant costs besides paying the car dealer. And restrictions on mileage, where you can drive, etc.

But the auto business is just the beginning. Consider software and apps. Businesses (and government agencies) get money from recurring payments (monthly, quarterly, annually). Rather than a one-time purchase cost. Consider the current versions of Kindle books. Or a dozen other industries.

But we submit that the worst example of this subscription concept is the evil called the property tax. Under that system, found in every State, you really don’t own your real property. And in many States, you may not even own much of your personal property. Ditto for your business, or your employer’s business. As long as it is a private, and generally a “for-profit” activity. If you fail to pay your property taxes every year, you will (sooner or later) lose your property: the government will seize it and sell it to someone else.

Many States are currently trying to come up with a way out of this concept. While there are many proposals, and many more ideas, none appear to really eliminate property taxes. They may reduce them, they may limit the real estate and private property on which the taxes are levied. But they do not address the root of the problem: there is in actually no private property. The government can take it all away.

We suggest that is yet another example of the evil nature of governments.

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