Some good points made here. The article does "conveniently" tie in nicely with the reduction of wealth and opportunity for the 99%.

One thing not mentioned is related to the fact that rental stuff is often crap. Rather than buy a circular saw for a small project a few years ago, I rented. The saw was so poorly maintained it wouldn't cut straight. So I returned it and got another. Same problem. All I got was a shrug from the rental company. If I had bought the saw it would have done the job easily and properly.

Now I suppose if rental were the norm, as in short term car rental, that might change. But the rental business is also sometimes a license for rip-off. For example. you can't convince me that leasing a car long term is anywhere near as advantageous as outright ownership. It's an expensive pain in the butt, only useful if you're able to write it off at tax time.