Dirt, gravel, minerals, oil, water, coal, rubber etc. aren't free. Land ownership is a thing and natural resources are usually controlled by someone. Simply con

Dirt, gravel, minerals, oil, water, coal, rubber etc. aren't free. Land ownership is a thing and natural resources are usually controlled by someone. Simply controlling the access to natural resources can make you rich without lifting a finger. More fundamentally, the production of goods comes at a price that can't necessarily be easily expressed in terms of money. Extracting and using natural resources often damages the environment and more obviously deprives other people of the use of those resources. You aren't paying $30k just for materials, but you aren't paying $30k for just labor and perceived value either. Resources used in the production of cars are sometimes naturally scarce, and if you own such resources, people will pay you to extract them.