To maintain their historical privilege, our wanna-be rulers have devised a system in which

public cost + private benefit = transfer of wealth from the many to the few.

Their primary tool is the law. The expropriation of public assets occurs under the cover of law. We the people consent to be governed in exchange for having our assets managed (by our agents) for the general welfare. That is the social contract. Individual rights are to be balanced by social obligations.

But what if the social obligations aren't carried out. What recourse do we have, other than to dismiss our agents? Can the transfer of wealth to the few be reversed? Can the actions of suborned agents be undone? The parable of the unjust steward in the Bible suggests not.

On the other hand, since the wealth is represented by tokens and, as the Caesars of the New World, the coin is ours, it would seem that we the people can take it back. Now that the coin has no intrinsic value, it is easy for us to decide its worth and determine that in un-trust-worthy hands it's worthless.

How did it happen that we, the people, were persuaded to hand over our assets to private corporations (financial, industrial, commercial) and then pay them for their use? Is it just tradition? Legal precedent?