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> The airport is trying to insist it's preventing jacked-up prices, when in reality it's the airport charging rent that generates those jacked-up prices in the

> The airport is trying to insist it's preventing jacked-up prices, when in reality it's the airport charging rent that generates those jacked-up prices in the first place, and it tries to pretend like it plays no part. Evil, but clever. The same situation applies to the rest of the economy - people celebrate their house going up in value, without realising that your plumber and coffee will also go up in price, because the plumber's and the barista's rent has just gone up! Even if you never have to buy a house, rising house prices mean that every service around you becomes more expensive because they've got to pay rent. Industry didn't just move out because western workers want too much money, they moved out because western landlords want too much money.

fuzzfactor 4y ago
I would say another reason the sandwiches cost so much is because so many remain unsold. You have to start with the assumption that things like this are only intended for the very well-heeled to begin with, particularly in this price range where the difference between about $2 and $20 is not actually significant to the buyer. It is well-known that most travelers are not in this catagory, and plenty of millionaires will not ever spend close to $20 at the high end for something recognized as worth $2 at the low end. Even if they could do it without any financial pain. Sometimes that's how they got to be millionaires anyway. Anyway, you've got to have more than enough sandwiches for every one of the real high-rollers who might be passing through that day, you would never want to have less than enough. Plus every now and then someone else will get hungry enough to bite. There's no intention for there to be alternative choices which are more economical. So a lot of the sandwiches are going to go to waste. So they need to be able to afford to make enough to waste most of them. Which could only result in spiraling costs. Overpriced lower-quality outcomes follow greed in a self-fulfilling way when you do the math, but when all benefit is directed only to the greedy party, it does no-one any good since they are not capable of being fulfilled. Apply this to so many other parts of the economy, and look what we have. More greed and more waste to go with it, and ordinary workers can't afford what they once could.

fuzzfactor 4y ago

I would say another reason the sandwiches cost so much is because so many remain unsold. You have to start with the assumption that things like this are only intended for the very well-heeled to begin with, particularly in this price range where the difference between about $2 and $20 is not actually significant to the buyer. It is well-known that most travelers are not in this catagory, and plenty of millionaires will not ever spend close to $20 at the high end for something recognized as worth $2 at the low end. Even if they could do it without any financial pain. Sometimes that's how they got to be millionaires anyway. Anyway, you've got to have more than enough sandwiches for every one of the real high-rollers who might be passing through that day, you would never want to have less than enough. Plus every now and then someone else will get hungry enough to bite. There's no intention for there to be alternative choices which are more economical. So a lot of the sandwiches are going to go to waste. So they need to be able to afford to make enough to waste most of them. Which could only result in spiraling costs. Overpriced lower-quality outcomes follow greed in a self-fulfilling way when you do the math, but when all benefit is directed only to the greedy party, it does no-one any good since they are not capable of being fulfilled. Apply this to so many other parts of the economy, and look what we have. More greed and more waste to go with it, and ordinary workers can't afford what they once could.