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It’s a matter of perspective, though. For a white collar professional in the US? Sure. For most of the world’s population, the distinction between $300 and $18 is extremely consequential.

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For the majority of humanity, it's several days' worth of wages vs several weeks or months.

Right. $18 is 6% of $300. For that to be a difference of little consequence, $300 must be an expenditure of little consequence. In the other direction $300 is 6% of $5000. There are people— a number of whom likely frequent this forum— for whom a $5000 expenditure isn’t particularly consequential, and getting an OK thing for $300 doesn’t make sense when you can get a pretty good thing for $5000. That certainly doesn’t mean someone being able to offer a useful version of a $5000 thing for $300 has no merit.

I see this sort of thing in amateur radio all the time. “Why on earth would anyone just starting out consider getting a Baofeng radio for $20 when you can get a better quality name brand equivalent for $200?” Well because $180 is a whole lot of money for a whole lot of people.

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