> Economics everyone is taught of a supply & demand curve like it's some law of nature. It's literally based on greed! (which, ok yes you can easily say IS our

> Economics everyone is taught of a supply & demand curve like it's some law of nature. It's literally based on greed! (which, ok yes you can easily say IS our nature.. but should it be?) That's the distinction of descriptivism vs prescriptivism. Both types of theories are important, but miscommunication about which one a theory is representing is a source of many unnecessary arguments. Agreed on the rest... Mainstream economic theory does not include externalities (including environmental) into the the price... Most likely because society still sucks at enforcing externalities into prices. More concretely: systematically gouging people who can't afford it is likely to create social issues, while at the same time generating profit for someone else in the exploitative chain. In an ideal world, that profit would be reduced to directly pay for social issues it causes. Of course, that's easier said than done in practice. There's no free lunch, so the bill goes to society to pay for somehow, either through increased taxes or lower standard of living for all of us. An example: say someone needs to go into debt to get basic education for their kids. The parent works more, spends less time with the kids. Kids are less likely to live up to their potential, and more likely to be involved later in life with criminality, drug use, homelessness. Meanwhile, a small group of people higher up in the chain that systematically gouges thousands like this family, enjoy a nice year end bonus, not for working extra hard or being particularly clever, but just because they've inserted themselves in this exploitative mechanism. Meanwhile, we all pay a little more tax to pay for remedial social programs and policing, to deal with those that were already vulnerable and further nudged into bad outcomes.