Consider first the case of housing. We talk about “ownership” and “landlords” but many actions may approximate government ownership of the asset:
- Government zoning, that restricts what you can build on your property
- Homeowners associations, historical districts, etc. may dictate the exterior of the structures you erect
- Government-enforced building codes narrow down your choices of interior design and materials
- Environmental regulations may dictate what you can create in your buildings, and how you may dispose of waste (e.g. septic systems)
- Government-mandating inspection and fraud regimes may dictate features such as air conditioning, provided smoke detectors in rooms, number of doors, fire escape hatches, etc.
- Any landscaping may be further dictated by water restrictions, environmental bans on invasive or non-native species, etc.
- Equal opportunity laws may dictate to whom you must rent/provide occupancy, including roommates
- The government specifies measures designed to ensure the financial integrity of banks and directly subsidizes mortgages and housing vouchers
The sum of it all is, the government may be making almost every decision, and your only significant option is to have capital in the asset and maybe make some amount of profit, but even that amount of profit may be dictated by the government.
Consider next, the matter of building personal use cars for sale in the 48 states:
- The government may directly, or indirectly (via gas consumption regulation) specify the type of engines you can place in the cars you build
- The government may dictate the types of controls allowable, the signaling mechanisms, crash safety measures like fuel system protection, and telemetry
- The government may place restrictions on the entities through which you can sell the vehicle, or may even prohibit you from selling the vehicle at all except by through authorized middlemen
- The government may force what effectively amounts to specific warranty periods e.g. lemon laws
- The government may have the authority to force you to recall the vehicles you make for modification at your cost, even if you were not at fault
- The government can force the manufacturer of the car to etch identification numbers and the users of the car also to register the car in their names, all of which are stored in government accessible databases
- The government may bail out the automaker if they don’t make enough money
In other words, the government orders you as a car manufacturer, around like their subordinate, and even supports you if you fail.
Woe to the “owner” of a bank:
- The central bank or seigniorage authority may print large amounts of currency and put you out of business, directly or via inflation
- The financial authorities can declare you insolvent and put you out of business, and arbitrarily give stock and bondholders money (Switzerland and UBS/Credit Suisse)
- The government can force you to accept government employees kept in your headquarters at your expense, constantly poring over your books and telling you what to do (48 states, Dodd-Frank)
- The government may set the maximum amount of money you can lend out, and force you to store the rest in specified accounts
- The government (especially in non-free societies like the 22 provinces) may directly specify quotas for lending to certain groups or purposes, or even direct funding to specific projects
- The government may specify standards for how loans are to be serviced, and debts collected