What if that kindle was $25, but every time you wanted to use it, you had to watch a 30s ad and then while reading give up 20% of the screen for a banner ad? Still wanna buy/use that kindle?

I think what GP is trying to say, from my perspective, is where does it stop? All this effort just to get the end user to consume more and more. The brainpower that's being wasted on delivering ads! Could that not be used to solve actual -- real -- problems instead? Why is delivering ads such a big problem that we're spending so many resources and so much effort on it?

You pay $50 for that kindle and save some money, but don't fool yourself into thinking it's not costing you -- really use as a civilization -- a lot more.

Great! What we really need are more cars on the road.

We have different def's of "cheaper".

And what if the subsidized cost resulted in a new form of public transit that massively reduced fatalities and expanded people's work range while reducing pollution and traffic? Some things may be worth a few ads if tax dollars can't fully fund them to the level they would need to get prioritized.