[ilovetux]

This is certainly true. In fact, I would go so far as to say we (those born or raised in the US) are conditioned from a young age to become dependent on our consumer economy in order to lock us into a system where we have to accept this sort of behavior or go to extremes to reject it becoming an outcast or "wierdo".

This leads to the development of an ineffective coping mechanism where one learns to identify scams they have seen in the past and find a defense for it. This is like leaving a firewall wide open and only closing a specific port after an attack has occurred on that port. More precisely this is a reactive approach to defense.

A comprehensive approach to systematically develop effective safeguards in the US probably won't happen, ever. The people who want these safeguards are too busy with their day-to-day lives to dedicate any considerable amount of time to achieving it, meanwhile the people don't want anything to change have the time, money and influence to fight any attempt at reform. Meanwhile value is being extracted from the consumer which leads to a never-ending cycle.

This is getting a little scary with the shift to rent-seeking behavior. This is true from even the more established, trustworthy businesses (think Microsoft). A monthly subscription is not so bad, but when this becomes the normal way to buy things from the big names it legitimatizes the practice so a scammer can get their hands into your pocket forever.