Good point re cartels. But I still don’t think there’s a shadowy group trying to make owning things impossible for normal people as an explicit goal.

It's not a goal, but a secondary effect. Companies that build long-lasting products for sale to customers will have lower profits than those that rent-out cheaply made goods. Over a multi-decade window, with some bankruptcies, consolidation roll-ups and astute leadership, you can guess which model will win, based on nothing but market forces and imperfect information. The collusion is based purely on P&L performance.