I was going to quote a post, I am not. You cant have a real discussion because the young have been taught such a perverted version of things it isn't possible.
These discussions make me want to cry. They also make me want to hide. You use the words but have no idea what they are supposed to mean.
I will simply point out this. It's a simple concept.
In essence you are asking for more of what has made things the way they are now. It seems you don't like the way things are now.
Regulations are enacted by people who are swayed by money. The monopolies have the money. Foreign governments have money. All the regulations in the end protect the monopolies and foreign manufacturing and squash competition. It's basically dead now.
Everything is single sourced and you have no choices other than to use that single source at whatever they want to charge,
When I was young you could go into town and buy many things made by different companies in different stores.
Made in America and everywhere else.
Now you can go to Walmart and buy stuff made in China. The city is drug addicts, government offices, lawyers offices and empty store fronts that are occasionally occupied by trendy restaurants that close when they are no longer trendy. There is no reason to go there except to visit a government office because you have to.
Or you can buy stuff made in China on Amazon.
Keep regulating. It has worked so well. Keep taxing corporations. A corporation that has achieved a protected monopoly through regulation just adds the tax to the price of what it sells. The consumer always pays.
Perhaps you could find an old economics textbook from 40-50 years ago, read it and learn the truth. Then you would realize the gibberish you have been taught is benefitting the people that are creating the system you are complaining about.
I totally empathize with your opinion, and I do understand on the macro level that some mainstream institutions of business and politics in America have been engrained too much and for so long, that it's almost impossible to change them now.
(Post Self-Hijack: Thank God for BTC and ETH! At least there's an alternative! 
an alternative savings plan that is not half a percent of interest APR ;Woot)
However, at our current timeline in this hobby I still think it early enough for hobbyists to steer the direction of reefing in a better way.
The reefing hobby for many decades as been an oddball tiny little niche only practiced by oddball nerds.
It still is, to a degree, but with the growth of telecommunication and the internet, it has fast approached mainstream commercial success such that entire ecosystems of business and institutions and global communities have become established. The growth has been exponential recently and will further grow exponentially. But I believe we are still in the early adoption phase by mainstream society. I believe our hobby will gain more attention and interest, as the world news will show the further decay of natural reefs.
I to don't understand why everyone wants to yell about what others choose to buy with their own money. That instant ocean thread is countless pages of the same thing happening here, and for what reason. We have choices neither of us has to agree or live with the ones each other makes.
This is what I mean by look at the larger picture. I say this with all due respect.
My point is NOT to complain to fellow hobbyists. Unless I have to RME about specific nonsensical replies. I just have to address some of them. It's like an itch by a mosquito. It's my pet peeve. Woodyman, I'm not pointing your quote out when I'm talking about mosquitos and itches, but there was this user that was justifying prices of protein skimmers by lecturing how I couldn't machine or manufacture them. Like--What are you talking about? LoL?
My point is NOT just to encite a troll war amongst ourselves. We are the hobbyists. We are the community. My point is on a larger scale.
If there are any disagreements about how specific vendors are great and arguments from fanboys, you have missed the point. If you are against the posts because you think I'm upset at hobbyists who make more money than me, then you missed my point completely.
Most of our hobby currently is led by price gouging. Not honest profiteering as a legitimate supplier. We need to shift the focus for the better interests of the noob to grow our community, more than the businesses that profit from them. Our hobby is grooming the chicken before its hatched! And price gouging the aging chickens and deterring the chicks. We should groom the eggs. The future of our hobby.
I believe we are still early enough to dictate the course of reefing. If we sit idly by, then the prices continue to rise solely for flourescent pigmentation and stupid names for very easy to keep corals. I'll use an example from a previous reply that really didn't answer the question I posed.
I'm not complaining about $150 single polyp zoanthids because I can't afford it, but does it make sense to you? I would like an earnest, bushy tailed and wide eyed college kid to be able to get one. If he was competent enough to learn the ropes and be successful in a reeftank, then by God he deserves a yellow skirted zoanthid. Its just a stupid zoanthid. Ok, mark it up a little more. But not by $150 per polyp!
I use this as a specific example. Zoas used to cost $10 for an entire colony of them. $150 per polyp makes no sense. It's not simply inflation. Companies are taking advantage and price gouging.
Can anyone honestly really believe that 1 single polyp of particular yellow skirted zoanthid is worth $150? Seriously. If you think about. It is the definition of price gouging.
And that has to be pointed at. And voiced at. With the same scrutiny we have over Vibrant and it's algaecide ingredient by UWC. This is an honest warning that benefits the hobbyist. It is not just trolling a business.
My posts and posts such as below are meant to benefit you. Stop arguing against it.
@Randy Holmes-Farley
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/warning-use-vibrant-at-your-own-risk.894995/page-8#post-9944199
It was a lot easier to jump into the hobby when I started, because everything made more financial sense. But modern day reefing is grown by 1000% the rate of inflation. I'll use another example that propped up a while back that had an idiotic response from someone:
We had air-stoned skimmers that were fair priced. Now they just add a waterpump inside and the contraption got bigger (more plastic/acrylic) , and with no justifiably tremendous increase in development or technology, skimmers are now hundreds and even thousands of dollars. It makes no sense. Needle wheel and venturi are not patented technologies that are worth millions of dollars to develop and manufacture. Why are they the same prices as high end LEDS's? The technology is complex, and quality could be justified by underpowering higher quality wattage leds, and offering streamlined UI better than chinese black boxes with better spectrum control with warranty. LED lighting I'm not arguing so much against. But think about LED lights and skimmers. They should not cost the same!
I believe we are still early enough in the game. I'm not arguing against hobbysist who can spend more money. But to put everything in a concise conclusion: Zoas are overpriced. Everyone should be able to afford a yellow skirted zoanthid. And we should point them out. And make vendors stop price gouging obvious products/corals.
Colonies of acropora? Of course! They are technically harder and harder to collect, as well as the incredible colors.
And acroporas have always been justifiably expensive. Long before many of you even started reefing. Heck, long before some of you were born. Thank you to whoever posted the difficulties of procuring acropora. They were ALWAYS expensive for decades. My messages are about the obvious corals that are truly being price gouged.
Anyway, I hope fellow hobbyists understand my point. I'm simply trying to help all of us by educating to be conscientious consumers. Its against the direction the hobby is headed towards and I truly believe that this hobby is so early, we can make a difference with our voices.
As a metaphor, think of how the American colonies revolted and won. It was still early enough for them to change the course of colonized America. If they waited too long, and the British was much more established then it would have been too late. We are still early to shift the direction of our hobby towards a brighter future for the hobbyists. If we wait too long, and
hypothetically BRS becomes the
Amazon of reefing and AquaSD owns the majority of coral farming, then it'll be too late as others have pointed out regarding mainstream politics and finances and we will be at the hands of mainstream corporate greed and too late to voice anything.
The ones that are looking at the smaller scope of what I say and debating over the minutia of my message, are the ones who would have just bowed low, and plowed their farm instead of taking arms to create the United States of America.
