Though the economy-as-ecosystem argument is often critiqued, it’s relevant here. In ecosystems, matter is conserved. It evolves, gets recycled, and turns into other stuff, but there’s never any more or less of it than there was to start.

The sharing economy is similar. A sharing economy operating perfectly in line with theory is completely at odds with capitalism because there are zero “profits” to reinvest into growth. There is no “growth” in a sharing economy, period.

The sharing economy we were sold, as you so dutifully articulate, was a scam.