Last night near dark I was sitting on my front porch after a long walk, enjoying the still, warm air filled with fireflies and mosquitoes. I saw a huge white opossum, its grayish white hair contrasting pleasantly with the deep emerald of my neighbor's lawn. It moved slowly, showing no sign it was aware of my presence. It waddled to the curb, then saw the headlights of an approaching automobile and ran back from the curb to hide under a bush. Then it ran out of that bush to go back into the shrubs around my neighbor's house, where it disappeared.
We see squirrels, chipmunks, raccoons, mallard ducks and even deer on my street. I don't see opossums very often, but this one was obviously well fed and not feeling threatened by anything. Dog's don't run loose here, and as far as I know people around here aren't in the habit of killing and eating the opossums.
According to conventional understanding, I "own" the house I live in. In other words, I do not owe anyone for it and there are no mortgage payments. In truth, my house is owned by the city of Ann Arbor, not me. The city of Ann Arbor collects rent from me on its property. This rent is called property tax. If I do not pay the rent, my landlord, the city of Ann Arbor, will seize the house in which I live and evict me from it. This city ownership of my house is further demonstrated by its control over what I can do with this property that I supposedly "own." If I were the real owner, I could build a covered porch over the front door. Since Ann Arbor is the real owner, and since Ann Arbor doesn't want me to build that porch, there is something called a "zoning law" that makes it illegal for me to build that covered porch. There are other restrictions on the kind of building modifications I can do to this place, also covered in the zoning laws. The city of Ann Arbor prevents its tenants ("property owners") from doing things it does not want them to do the to the properties they rent from it through the payment of property taxes.
Another myth is that the city "owns" the public sidewalk in front of my house. That is not a complete myth. The city does own the sidewalk and I have no say about the sidewalk's design or maintenance. However the city does not take responsibility for sidewalk maintenance, the way any other owner normally would do. The city decides how the sidewalk should be repaired, it decides when that must be done, but the cost of doing that work is paid by me, the nearest available property "owner." I have just received a notice from the city that it wants its sidewalk in front of my house repaired. It has marked the sections of its sidewalk that it wants replaced or repaired, it has established detailed requirements for exactly how these replacements and repairs must be done, and it has set a deadline for me to complete that work. I estimate this is going to cost me about $1000.
I wish there were someone I could send instructions to about repairs on my car. I would tell them exactly what needs to be replaced or fixed and tell them when they have to get it done. Unfortunately, I don't have the same kind of leverage over anybody else that the city of Ann Arbor has over me. The city of Ann Arbor can make me homeless. Therefore, it can also make me pay to repair its sidewalks, because it knows that if I'm not willing to do that, it can simply evict me and find someone else who will do it.
If I don't go along and fix the city's sidewalks for it, I'll be pushed a step further out on the world's long plank of dispossessed people to join the hordes of renters who can't even delude themselves that they "own" something. I happen to have in my possession a little piece of paper called a "deed." That gives me the option of selling someone else the right to pay the property taxes on this parcel and pay for fixing its sidewalk. It doesn't mean I "own" anything.
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Some people will tell me to count my blessings and remind me how much worse things could be--either in the USA under different circumstances or in some other country. I've spent too much time in renter purgatory longing for my own place not to be aware of those considerations, and I've done enough traveling to understand that things are worse in other countries for most people. What I'm talking about now is something else. I'm saying, let's be honest. If we don't own. let's not say we own. I would be more comforatble with something like "taxpayer of first resort."
I'm wary of computer products that are marketed as "experiences." If I buy a ticket to see a movie in a theater, I'm buying an "experience." If I buy a computer or some computer software, I'm buying a tool, not an "experience." An "experience" is something the vendor controls. A tool is something I control. If buy a a computer product, I want control over it. The use of the marketing term "experience" is a device to cause users to accept reduced control.
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