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Consumer first; Citizen second

hertig.blog Consumer first; Citizen second | hertig.blog

We have reached the final stage of the neoliberal fever dream. From housing, to media, to printers, to everything else. Get ready to own nothing; pay rent on everything.

Consumer first; Citizen second | hertig.blog

From housing, to media, to printers, to everything else. Get ready to own nothing; pay rent on everything.

Disclaimer: I am the author

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17 comments
  • One of the main factors contributing to this problem is how customers simply give up their rights for convenience. Pro-customer options don't disappear. They die a slow painful death.

    Take the example of DRM in books. All the easy options like from Amazon are DRM encumbered. But the DRM-free options are still available if you are willing to search a bit. They don't cost much extra either. But people don't care. And direct sellers providing DRM-free books wither away in neglect. Similar examples are still around for reparable devices, DRM-free multimedia, etc.

    Consumers rights are not a given. Like any rights, those are the ones you have to defend. You have to put at least a little bit of effort to protect it. When I suggested this recently, I was accused of 'victim-blaming'. What escape is there when the victims are not ready to fight back?

  • I think there's a bit of a defect in the argument about renting. Renting can be cheaper than buying all-in and more convenient if it's run without profit, or low profit. When the renteers are few and there's no established mechanism to prevent arbitrary increases in rent prices you do get into the situation where we are. Renting can become expensive and extortionate. But this is why I think people went for renting. It was cheaper and more convenient than buying. The thing is though, the lack of processes preventing renting to get expensive also exist in buying. When there's few for-profit suppliers, buying can become extortionate too. The free market has gaping holes when it comes to this and it relies on the government to plug them. But the profitable players in the market don't want those holes plugged so they take over the government with the profits. So it seems to me that there's no reliable solution found that doesn't involve collective action by a significant part of the citizens whether the dominant model is renting or buying. I'm fairly certain trade unions are an important part of a solution, since they reduce the profit collected by the decision-makers in corporations, leaving less for buying governments, and gaining the ability to buy governments on the majority's behalf. But I don't know if it's enough.

  • I absolutely hate it for medias like music or movies. Back in the time, you had your CD and DVD/BD in physical format. Now there's music you about cannot buy to own. Same for old movies, you cannot find them physically, only rent them on youtube for instance.

17 comments