"Think about how, if the cost of our projects is 2-3x what it "should be", we are doing without 2/3-1/2 of the improvements to our physical world that we could

"Think about how, if the cost of our projects is 2-3x what it "should be", we are doing without 2/3-1/2 of the improvements to our physical world that we could otherwise achieve." This is far, far underestimating how many projects we lose. If things were 3x cheaper, one could justify many more than 3x the projects, as there would be more return on investment and more willingness to fund additional projects.