Why are many people concerned about "You will own nothing and be happy"?
Posted by Apprehensive-Sun4602@reddit | Libertarian | View on Reddit | 49 comments
I've seen a lot of discussions and concerns about the phrase "You will own nothing and be happy." Some people seem to associate it with the World Economic Forum (WEF) and ideas about a future where private ownership disappears. Others view it as a conspiracy theory or a misinterpretation of economic trends like the sharing economy (e.g., renting instead of owning).
I’m curious:
- Where did this phrase originate, and what was its intended meaning?
- Why do some people see it as a threat or dystopian future?
- Are there legitimate reasons to be concerned, or is it overblown?
I’d love to hear different perspectives on this!
ClapDemCheeks1@reddit
This phrase is a threat.
If you don't own anything or have no rights to private property the state controlls major aspects of your life. Therefore, you are no longer free. Your life is of the discretion of others.
Apprehensive-Sun4602@reddit (OP)
Is there anything we can do?
Gabbz737@reddit
Man i could go on about this forever.
Let's start with some basics like videogames/movies. Before you could buy a physical copy and it was yours to do with as you please. You could use it, share it, sell it, whatever. Now let's say you "bought" a digital copy of the game "Deadpool" on PS4. Due to licensing issues and such the game is no longer produced, and no longer on the digital store. So if your game gets deleted or you get a new ps4/ps5 the game will not be on it, nore can you re-download it. You paid for it but you can't have it. However if you bought the game on disk, you can do all of these things plus sell it if you want. Infact the price of it went up because you can't get it anymore.
More companies are switching to streaming/game-passes as well. This keeps you on a fixed rate steady paying whether you play the games/movies/shows or not. Because you're paying for a service and not the actual game/media they can arbitrarily take it down whenever they want. They can even move it to the premium membership so you have to pay more for something you were already getting. They will often shuffle the license to different streaming platforms so that you have to pay for multiple streaming services just to continue playing the same media. At the end of the day, you'll probably pay more in streaming than if you just bought it on disk.
HOUSING Now here is where things get even worse. Everyone needs food/clothing/shelter. It used to be that a middle class family could own a house and put a kid through a normal college on a single income. Now the cost to buy property is so high and middle class wages are so low in proportion that most families can't even afford to buy a small house on 2 full time incomes. Even if the kid works as soon as they're of legal age and saves every penny chances are they're still going to have to take out student loans. Anyone who rents knows that if things break they either won't be fixed properly or timely if at all. Most people are forced to suck it up and deal with it because they don't have the money for a lawyer to fight for their rights of decent living conditions. Less starter homes are even available to buy because property management companies are buying them all up. These companies are often more soulless than your typical slumlord and have better funded legal teams. Often rent costs more than a mortgage would and you'll never own the property even if you've paid its full value 100x over.
Sadly this is just the beginning of legalized financial slavery. Soon all but the elite will be indentured servants. Forever in debt ....
jcutta@reddit
You were always buying the same thing with games/media in general. You were buying a license to use the product. It's why emulation isn't considered piracy when you own a physical version (piracy in general is a whole conversation in itself). The difference is the medium of that license ownership and the ability to transfer that license via a sale of the physical version.
Even physical games can be blocked for newer games if the game is removed from the servers because a physical game disk is essentially a physical product key, modern games are too big to hold on a disk, most of the game if not all of it is downloaded during installation.
Subscription services are a totally different situation and are getting dicey with how ubiquitous they are in gaming.
dmo09004@reddit
Not to mention that if you do manage to purchase property, the government is going to tax you for it every year, could take it whenever they want by eminent domain, is going to require massive levels of inspection (if in a blue state) if you want to build anything on your property and is going to tax your kids if you try to leave it to them when you pass.
If the government can exercise that much control over your property, can you even consider it yours?
Stew21221@reddit
The housing thing is big. I do home improvement, and we try to renovate and sell 4/5 houses a year. Last year, we were out bidded by big companies that don't seem to have an end to who's in charge. Like the Blackrock thing or whatever. One company in particular outbid us prob 5/6 times, they were tied to a hedge fund company in a different country or some shit. So we go back later, curious of what's up with the house. It's for rent from one of those rental companies tht own a shit ton of properties.
Apprehensive-Sun4602@reddit (OP)
Is there a way to stop that? Or atleast, what's the best way to counter it starting from ourselves?
What quickly went inside my mind is that you have to have a powerful role in the goverment to control the rules of making subscriptions
or...
You could also become an influential socialist businessman with your companies being generous.
But yeah, it's just unrealistic tbh
Impressive-Fortune82@reddit
They only understand money language, do not consume and when you have to, make sure you buy from a small business
SippinOnHatorade@reddit
Well, in terms of media, piracy of course. And then piracy’s slightly more legal alternative, buying codes for cheaper than MSRP from 3rd party seller sites
PassiveIllustration@reddit
I think this is generally what people when when they say that phrase. Like what's a better business opportunity, selling someone a car or selling someone a car with a subscription service as is becoming the norm in many manufacturers. It makes you feel like you can't ever really own the product you purchased because you're basically paying perpetual licenses to these companies for the opportunity to use their products
Lanky_Barnacle_1749@reddit
Agenda 2030, read it, it isn’t conspiracy
lovely1188@reddit
This reminds me of Glenn Beck's 2012 book Agenda 21 🫣
Anen-o-me@reddit
Leftist conspiracy theory.
Parabellum12@reddit
The most upvoted comment here is like 10 links proving it’s real. Do you even read?
Anen-o-me@reddit
I saw it, just because someone says something crazy doesn't make it real.
Parabellum12@reddit
Holy shit
Anen-o-me@reddit
Look, socialists also want to take things away from you and force their way on you, does that mean it happened? No. I'm saying publishing a stupid plan doesn't mean it's happened or is going to happen.
Dazzling_Raisin@reddit
If you own nothing it's not that nothing is owned. If nothing is privately owned then the government owns it all. For examples of how bad this is look at Fascist Italy under Mussolini and Nazi Germany.
GangstaVillian420@reddit
That's not what they were referring to. They were referring to people no longer purchasing their needs but renting them instead. That the trend has already started, primarily with GenZ, where these kids aren't trying to get a driver's license or a car and use Uber or the like.
Your take, however, is how it was spinned by the "non-elite globalists."
This isn't a statement that I agree with the objective, just a clarification of it.
Impressive-Fortune82@reddit
In a perfect world where all humans are good and kind, this is actually a good thing, this can greatly help to preserve the environment.
But in our real world it always ends up with a wealthy minority accumulating all assets and then exploiting the rest...
GangstaVillian420@reddit
I'm not disagreeing with you in theory, and I think that the outcome would be just as you describe. Only pointing out that the original argument was basically saying that the state would own everything and turn into communism, where the WEF standpoint was that it would be privately owned and most assets would be rented instead of purchased. Essentially, bringing in a new Gilded/Feudal age
Hrimnir@reddit
Exactly, this is super simple.
paperrug12@reddit
so simple, yet you are agreeing with a comment that has it completely wrong. average libertarian literacy.
bob_maulerantian@reddit
That phrase is not attributed to goverment owning things, it's attributed to private corporations owning things.
spankymacgruder@reddit
You asked why people are concerned? The WEF are the techno-oligarchs that want to enslave us. A lot of people on Reddit think it's Musk or Trump. It's not. It's Soros, Gates, The Brtiitish Royal Family, Black Rock, Black Stone, Vanguard, etc etc.
Why the push? They know that the not too distant future will have semi-autonomus AI humanoids that will make the majority of menial jobs obsolete. The humanoids cost far less per hour to operate than minimum wage, never tire, never complain, and can work 24 hours per day.
The stated goal of the WEF is to create some type of techno serfdom where you own nothing and will be happy while they own everything and will be free.
They made a huge push for this compliance during the Covid lock downs. The WEF even referred to it as the Great Reset. The head of the WEF Claus Shwab even wrote a book bout the "opportunity".
This push involved many countries adopting laws that regulated speech on the internet. Examples of this are seen in Europe where you can be arrested for private conversations. Other examples are the recent regulations against farming in the EU, limiting how hot or cold you can keep your home, etc.
The American people are not as prone to socialism / social compliance as Europe. As a result, this sort of back fired in the US as much of our core principles are rooted in individual liberty and meritocracy. Laws that were sponsored to suppress free speech were not passed.
https://youtu.be/mbdJtrXYBZs?si=va7h2TrdkDlRz-P-
spankymacgruder@reddit
The WEF literally had a PR campaign about this. It's why they are attributed to it. The had an article in Forbes and many ads.
They had a lot of backlash and memory holed it.
https://web.archive.org/web/20161125135500/https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2016/11/shopping-i-can-t-really-remember-what-that-is
https://medium.com/world-economic-forum/welcome-to-2030-i-own-nothing-have-no-privacy-and-life-has-never-been-better-ee2eed62f710
https://www.independent.co.uk/money/why-you-ll-own-nothing-by-2030-a7582111.html
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=nTEAMHP3jQY
https://www.amazon.com/You-Will-Own-Nothing-Financial/dp/0063304937
libertarianinus@reddit
I love when people place facts....
Impressive-Fortune82@reddit
They had free clean energy in 2030 daymmm
Apprehensive-Sun4602@reddit (OP)
thanks for the resources
jthomas287@reddit
They messed up, the guy in the first article owns a bike. STRAIGHT TO JAIL!
Cyclonepride@reddit
The WEF's vision of the future is techno-feudalism. They'll own everything, and we'll rent it. They'll have generational wealth, and we'll have a subsistence living and pass nothing onto our children. The threat is real. If we allow digital ID and digital currency, they will control us more effectively than if we were all placed in shackles. So yes, it is deadly serious, and should be resisted to whatever degree is necessary.
-Doc_Holiday_@reddit
Those rats wants us to rent everything, and every facet of our lives to be a subscription service
Apprehensive-Sun4602@reddit (OP)
What should we do in order to survive?
AlphaTangoFoxtrt@reddit
The problem they have with you owning something, is it's a one time sale. They don't want you to own anything, they want to own it, and they want you paying them, forever, to rent it.
metakynesized@reddit
Somebody will still OWN it, just not you.
teleologicalrizz@reddit
Exactly. The language betrays the whole thing. "YOU will own nothing." Not "WE will own nothing."
KetchupOnThaMeatHo@reddit
Ownership is a form of power. If you own nothing, then you have no power, thus becoming the owned.
break_all_the_things@reddit
UCC 8-511(c) is an unjust law designed to passively achieve at least half the work of the communist; understanding transfer agents versus brokers, may fix this for some people
BastiatF@reddit
Google "Club of Rome". The Malthusians are obsessed with the "limits of growth" (nevermind the fact they've been wrong for over two centuries). Malthusian thinking is widespread among the "elites": the smaller your footprint, the larger theirs can be.
Hrimnir@reddit
The idea that a future with no private ownership will exist is a ridiculous fever dream cooked up by leftists. We could have literal Star Trek replicators, and the moment you replicated something it is now your property. Even outside of that, people will always have their own property, it could literally be something as simple as you making some yarn in a replicator, and weaving it into a little 4" squared napkin, that person is going to feel attached to it and will consider it their property. We can not escape our genetics as a species.
Now, perhaps i am being pedantic, and you simply mean "major" things like living spaces, cars, whatever. In that case, the concern, which is being born out right now all across europe, is once the state owns anything, that means the state gets to dictate what conditions have to be met to use said "property". This means they now control you. Oh, we don't like "disinformation", we define disinformation as disagreeing with this taking new pill we're requiring you to take as part of your condition to live in the state provided housing. Oh, you're mad that the pill will sterilize you? Too fucking bad, your options are sterilize yourself, or die on the street.
I could keep going, but hopefully you get the point.
human743@reddit
I always wondered why there weren't some hoarders on the Enterprise whose cabin was filled with crap they made in the replicator.
Packathonjohn@reddit
Not a leftist but people's feelings about whether something is their property is different from it literally not being their property. The easiest example is in tech, where there's already stories of entertainment companies removing content people have paid to buy, because it has to be accessed through the company's web app and they can charge you full price for something, and revoke your access cause you can't download it locally. Also the vast majority of software in general now uses subscription models, there isn't even the option to purchase their product, only pay monthly.
In the physical realm, the younger generations especially are dealing with record shattering home prices and they cannot build equity because they can't afford the down-payment, so they just continue to rent. I could see the same thing happening with cars too fairly easily.
Hrimnir@reddit
The tech example leaves out the fact that those people, whether wittingly or unwittingly, agreed to a EULA that had those provisions. Same applies to subscriptions. Those consumers made the choice not to own the product in that situation. That's not to say i'm defending the practice of deleting games/etc that you purchased in the past. I'm just saying, read the EULA.
Your last paragraph, while in a general sense is correct, is utterly pointless and in no way contributes to the philosophical discussion.
Packathonjohn@reddit
Yes they agreed to it but nearly all providers of non open source software are moving to that model collectively, which means it's less and less optional especially for people looking for jobs that require them to learn or have access to that software. Entertainment stuff like games is a little different cause you could still buy a book, but even with books, many are only getting digital releases now or releases only in audio book format, which means they can require a subscription and control actual ownership through their platform.
The last paragraph about renting rather than owning does contribute to the philosophical discussion, assuming we're still talking about owning nothing and being happy, because you down own a home or property if you're renting.
I do believe there's a nugget of truth in that prediction at least for younger generations and I don't think replacing the companies doing this with the government doing this is a good solution, but it is definitely a problem with a growing need to address it.
Hrimnir@reddit
I mean look, we're in agreement that a government solution is nearly never the correct solution. I'm more sympathetic to the rent/own issue as far as housing because that's a far more difficult issue to "vote with your wallet" on.
The software one i'm fairly unsympathetic because that shit stops VERY quickly when consumers stop paying for the products that have those conditions. Unfortunately consumers are idiots, so, here we are.
All that being said, i don't think the OP was really getting as into the weeds as we/you are. I am fairly certain he was talking about it conceptually.
gvs77@reddit
The evil leader of the WEF has a statue of Marx in his office. Their quite open goal is to introduce communism worldwide and as the saviors of the planet, you will have to surrender your freedom to them as well,
Given that most government officials are members of that perverted club, the threat is very, very real.
adriens@reddit
It is also a reflection of high taxation and property taxes making it impossible to build a legacy and pass things onto children for them to continue growing. Everything is a liability up for exortion.
S_SubZero@reddit
This is the meme stuff but it also does answer some of your questions.
https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/youll-own-nothing-and-be-happy
The original video is also there.
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