It’s seems like every time someone figures out the supply issue, they come along, put in a few road blocks and charge you money to get though to what you had before for free or way less.

I mean yeah, that kind of thing has been the foundation of wealth for like… thousands of years, I think.

1. Acquire thing that lots of people want.
2. Secure it from anyone being able to get any of it for themselves.
3. Require people to give you money/labor/whatever in exchange for it.
4. Set the price as high as people will tolerate.
5. Profit. So, so, so much profit.

The point is not, never has been, and never will be, giving people things they want cheaply, the point is profit. Giving people things cheaply is beneficial when it lets you undercut the competition from other people selling the same or similar things. So much the better if you give what you control to people really cheaply at the start, and then raise the costs once your new livestock customers get settled in. But point is, at the end of the day, this type of behavior is how the profit motive plays out.

People act similarly for stuff like Linux though. Gotta build a cool brand for the Fediverse!