[mattmanser]

What a load of tosh.

Textbooks are now distributable by e-books, easily scalable. Yet somehow capitalism has utterly failed to deliver it's supposed benefits.

College tuition is now distributable by remote learning, theoretically massively reducing costs. Again, capitalism has utterly failed to deliver it's supposed benefits.

Housing has massively advanced, with cheaper construction, high rises, etc. but laws have been crafted to ensure that doesn't happen to protect rentiers. No taxes on unoccupied land, restrictions on where you can build, massive consolidation of available land without any desire to actually build anything but expensive condos. Again, capitalism has utterly failed to deliver it's supposed benefits.

[themacguffinman]

The cost of textbooks is not primarily in the distribution method, it's the labor of content creation.

The cost of tuition is not primarily in where or how people attend classes, it's the labor of developing curriculum, mentorship, and research.

The cost of housing is not primarily in construction, it's the scarcity of land. High density construction does address this, but you even mention that laws are obstructing this. How is this capitalism's fault when democratic governments enact laws that are literally stopping it from functioning freely?

[pas]

"Capitalism" completely solved the textbook problem, it simply ignored universities and degrees and whatnot altogether. (How come coding bootcamps don't have expensive textbooks?)

I put the quotes there because (arguably obviously) it's also thanks to capitalism that intellectual property is extended so obscenely.

Anyway, no university (or higher-ed institution) is forced to use textbooks. They do it because they can. Because there's no market force pushing prices down, because captive audience, because the signaling value of degrees is still high (because nobody got fired for hiring the candidate with more degrees - that also happens to have a wealthier background, and maybe even also happens to be white). But it's changing (due to market forces).

Similarly, housing is not a market problem. It's about "preserving the character of the neighborhood", and most neighborhoods happen to be favoring those who happen to be wealthy and against building.