This post is a response to a question posed in its complete format: “If Tesla automobiles are cheaper to make because of less human labour, why are they so expensive?”

Ah… the CON of capitalism is that the people believe price is a consequence of production costs when nothing could be further from the truth.

The cost of everything you buy is based on what the seller thinks will sell the most products.

Ironically, many people believe the most expensive products are the highest quality, and that misconception drives every vanity purchase.

It’s why capitalists like monopolies in their market. They can fix prices at whatever level they want, and people will gladly pay more for an inferior product. That’s how the health insurance industry works in the U.S. All they have to do is sell the idea that their consumers are getting a superior product at a lower cost because they’re not paying for supporting the poor or the immigrants they hate.

It’s a game of manipulating emotions and dulling logic with massive amounts of cheaply disseminated disinformation.

It is so successful at making billionaires richer that they’re trying to institute it in Canada. A handful of billionaires want to spread this formula worldwide with activist organizations they fund.

It’s why Donald Trump likes tariffs — they make people get used to paying more for their products so that when tariffs are lifted, prices drop by less than the tariffs, so that the products still sell at volumes they did before the tariffs were instituted.

Tariffs are a form of strategic price gouging for a market of Stockholm Syndrome victims.

We saw this strategy in action after the global pandemic lockdowns ended and supply lines returned to normal operations.

A product like the Swastitruck can be utter garbage, but because it’s unique in its design and grossly overpriced, people instinctively believe they are purchasing a superior quality product.

Market pricing is a psychological game that product manufacturers and sellers play with their consumers.