Americans Own Less Stuff, and That’s Reason to Be Nervous

Re:Americans Own Less Stuff, and That’s Reason to Be Nervous by ryandrake on Tuesday August 14, 2018 @03:50PM (#17761280)

> (One last question: Could you clarify "I do my own taxes?" What is it that doing taxes yourself, presumably by pen and calculator, gains over downloading a product like TaxAct and saving the PDF of the result?)

The general principle I failed to articulate is that all other things being equal, I value Self Reliance over Interdependence.

There are varying levels of interdependence though, maybe I can take a stab at ranking them from least objectionable/risky to most.

1. Dependence on friends and family: largely acceptable in my view

2. Dependence on local community, groups, churches, etc.

3. Dependence on local government, public transport, libraries, etc.

4. Dependence on state/national government

5. Dependence on local businesses

6. Dependence on remote/global businesses

You might notice that the ranking is also ordered by how accountable (at least in theory) they are to you in terms of their actions, where businesses tend to be the least accountable. You can’t vote them out or alter their bad behavior, and their interests least align with yours.

EDIT

Also, I don’t see how paying a corporation for a Spotify subscription gives me any kind of “stake in society”.

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Re:Americans Own Less Stuff, and That’s Reason to Be Nervous by dsfyu404ed on Tuesday August 14, 2018 @04:25PM (#17761570)

I'd personally flip 4 and 5 since I think having incentive not to screw you and recourse if you get screwed is important. Local businesses have much more reason not to screw people and people have much more recourse when screwed compared to state or national government.

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Re:Americans Own Less Stuff, and That’s Reason to Be Nervous by nigelcleland on Tuesday August 14, 2018 @07:23PM (#17762744)

I'd agree, another way to look at is who do you have the greatest recourse to when something goes wrong.

Local businesses will often be more sensitive to their customers than local governments. National governments will be even less sensitive.

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Re:Americans Own Less Stuff, and That’s Reason to Be Nervous by dsfyu404ed on Tuesday August 14, 2018 @10:06PM (#17763304)

Local businesses can't shoot your dog or take your kids and say "oops, take it to court if you don't like it" (well they can, it'll just work out very, very badly for them).

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