This works fine for unfinanced products, but when financing enters the picture, it becomes a "who is the most willing to take on debt" contest. People who can't think ahead win these, the prices are driven up for everyone else, and nobody has a good time in the long term.
Health care, housing, and education -- every year you pay more and get less.
It's like Amdahl's Law for capitalism: some things are easy to optimize, other things aren't, and eventually the things that aren't easy to optimize dominate the system.
