How sacred is private property?

When the market controls the economy people are taking for granted the respecting of the rules of property; when the government controls the economy the issue is property. As government-regulated economies like China or Russia come to the fore, the rules of private property matter less and less to the proper functioning of the economies. Eventually, private property rights will lose their sacred place in the world's value structures. It would not be the end of the world but it would be the end of something basic in Western society.