Technology

Have you ever worked in industry. I spent a couple of years as an operating engineering out of local 12. I worked at asphalt plants as a groundman and loader operator. Most heavy equipment is basically a rental contract with caterpillar or whatever manufacturer. Once the operation is above a certain size, the company is in a position to negotiate contracts that are tens of millions of dollars or more. When a loader or other equipment has an issue, the cat rep sends their team in to do the fix. The only things that are done on site are basic filters maintenance type stuff and when the contract is up, the equipment is replaced.

In this situation, there is no potential for exploitation because ownership was never part of the equation. There is no room for manipulation because the contract covers everything except basic maintenance. This system is already feudalism. When a feudal lord interacts with another feudal lord, of course they can come to terms because each possesses considerable power. The stupid peasantry has no such negotiable position. Our only power is in democracy where we become the largest power against exploitation. This is how the real big picture world works. There have been various democracies in the past where citizens had power against exploitation, and all of those were fumbled by idiots and fools that allowed consolidation of wealth and assumed that giving power to potential exploitation was okay and that those in power would do the right thing. This NEVER turns out to be the case. Ownership IS democracy and a founding principal of autonomy and self determinism. People that fail to realize this critical factor are ushering in a neo dark age in the exact same fashion as what created the last. The future will look back on our era dumbfounded about epic and unrivalled stupidity of the people that ended post WW2 democracy by just giving it away for nothing of substance. It is unfathomable brain rot on epic scales.