While anyone with a basic understanding of economics can realize this, the problem is actually that we’re missing the second illness hiding in the first. The system is bad, but it works when everyone plays by the rules. However, adding someone who is invested in their self interest instead of the system leads to the action we currently see. These people know what their doing, they know it’s unsustainable, but they also know that if they milk the system for what it’s worth they can make out like bandits and leave the wreckage for someone else.

The dumb, out of touch statements we hear from these people aren’t there to convince us, they’re there to convince their peers who are equally out of touch. It doesn’t matter if every gamer knows that subscription services are the killer of games, you just have to convince a dozen dumb rich people that people want it and you’ll get to gut the kingdom for everything and retire before you have to pay up.