Not the person you're replying to, but - I mean, I can (and did) buy a car for $30. No, we're not missing a zero there. That's what democratization means - i

Not the person you're replying to, but - I mean, I can (and did) buy a car for $30. No, we're not missing a zero there. That's what democratization means - it doesn't mean driving down the costs to some fictitious level of 'technically I could meet the loan payments'. Democratization means I can fish one out of the trash, and have it so reliably built in absolute terms that it still works pretty well. Real democratization happens when something is in "beg borrow and steal" territory. And I mean that in a profound way informed by the literal meaning of that term - the ability to break the rules, fudge the requirements, break the law, and just generally cheat your way into being able to do something you don't have the money to. If you're trying to fly cross country, you really just have the option of paying an air fare. That's it - either you have the cash, or you simply can't fly. But if I need gas money for a cross-country trip; I can steal gas; I can borrow some from a friend, I can mooch, etc, I can beg strangers at a gas station for a little bit - somehow I can weasel my way into having something which I can't officially afford. It's parasitic, but it relies on a host so ample, so resource rich, that "rats" can make a living there. That's real democratization - when the truly poor can get in on something because there are ways to make it happen that don't have an implacable, mandatory requirement of money.