Why aren't Google and Facebook ads a lot cheaper than they are since it's all built on dirt-cheap software?
No it is not.
it is not built merely on software - you also have infrastructure, useful part of management, lobbying ...
software is not dirt-cheap - producing it is extremely expensive
Price isn't determined by value created. Nor is it determined by supply/demand.
Since when price is not determined by supply/demand? (with exception of cases massively distorted by legislation, but we do not have a lot of price controls enacted by legislation on software)
So air is pretty valuable. The only reason for its cheapness is its absolute abundance, not the value it creates.
Not only. If someone would tried to charge people for breathing they would be likely voted out/executed/laughed at, depending on a case.
Why doesn't water have high profit margins?
Because reasonable people setup politics in way that fundamental goods such as water and air are provided to general population at negligible costs (does not apply to some unusual cases, like some war zones but even there attempts to provide it are typical). If this would not happen, then you get extremely irritated population. Often willing to go into revolution outright if no reasonable alternatives exists. See also food riots etc.
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Notes -
No it is not.
it is not built merely on software - you also have infrastructure, useful part of management, lobbying ...
software is not dirt-cheap - producing it is extremely expensive
Since when price is not determined by supply/demand? (with exception of cases massively distorted by legislation, but we do not have a lot of price controls enacted by legislation on software)
Not only. If someone would tried to charge people for breathing they would be likely voted out/executed/laughed at, depending on a case.
Because reasonable people setup politics in way that fundamental goods such as water and air are provided to general population at negligible costs (does not apply to some unusual cases, like some war zones but even there attempts to provide it are typical). If this would not happen, then you get extremely irritated population. Often willing to go into revolution outright if no reasonable alternatives exists. See also food riots etc.
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