We Love Superheroes and It’s Cool! Something About Our Economy.

QOTB (Quote of the blog): Trying to become something better than our evolved selves is the real Punk Rock. (My version of the Superman quote!)

[Image Credits]: Marvel Comics

It all started with a business idea. My friends Dhanjay and Indraja were developing this badass business idea to thrive in this chaotic world. Actually, I’m about to disclose their million-dollar business plan (Sorry dears, I just want to tell this story rn :).

The idea is simple, there’s a bunch of stuff on Alibaba, sold in bulk for dirt-cheap prices (say, 5rs or something to a USB-C to A cable.. (yes, I mean that cheap! (I know, there are a lot of brackets to close, bear with me, I’m a programmer, I’m supposed to be good at that..))).

At the same time, these exact things are sold with different logos on other e-commerce sites like Amazon, Flipkart, etc by resellers, for a huge margin. Sometimes up to 100x the price of the original (I’m not joking). Basically, these resellers are making a lot more money without adding much to the product’s value.

So why can't we be one of them?

"Seems immoral", I said.. "Why should it be immoral? A lot of guys are doing it, right?" (That's how our daily argument started that day.)

My point was this (BTW, we'ill be exploring only my POV over their's, as it's you know, my blog afterall ;). By being an intermediary between the producers and consumers, all we're doing is increasing the visibility of the resold product and helping the customers discover and buy it (kind of a help to the producers). And in this particular case, we'd be also doing a bulk buy, covering export duty charges and miscellaneous additional costs for each product, so that the customer doesn’t have to worry about those.

But the actual problem was in the pricing. Comparing with the current business scene, we see such products being sold for a high price. Sometimes, electronic accessories that cost around 5rs might be resold in the 100rs to 300rs range, that’s about 20 to 60 times the actual price.

That sounds pretty immoral, right? Right..? Not convinced yet..? Let me explain.

Say we are creating an e-commerce website to sell such items to people. Customers are okay with purchasing a USB-C to A cable for about 300rs from us. Compared to other products in the market that feels like a reasonable price.. right?

Really?

According to us, the resellers, we bought it for about 5rs. Maybe, adding export and logistics charges, plus some company maintenance costs and all, I might have to add another 5 to 10rs per product (maximum, prolly). Even so, we’ve only increased the price by 100 to 200 percent (1 to 2 times the original price).

Now let’s add our greedy additional amount. For the maximum greediness, let’s say I add up to 5rs more (I can't agree to more than that). I mean, I just said 100% of the original product price. That’s already more than the original producer might ever get for this product.. (maximum greedy one should ever try to be, without being super evil, I mean, at least that’s where I draw the line.)

Summing up, we simply made a 5rs product into a 20rs one, satisfying our greedy soul (to a bigger extent).

Now, let’s say we’re selling it for a “medium feasible” amount in the market. Say, 300rs. (As of today’s estimate, such a cable can cost from 53rs to 490rs, all the way up to ~2000rs, for high-end, brand-value-added crap.)

Is it moral to do that??

I think, no! Maybe let’s ask a simple question; should resellers ever have the moral right to get a profit margin above 100% of the original price? (I’d say they don’t even have the right to gain above 50%, at max.) Sadly, we live in a capitalist world (something that evolved over time), and that’s just how things are here..

I got you guys, you might be asking “It’s up to the customer, right? They can buy it or leave it…”

So here’s another clear-cut question: suppose you created a full price breakdown, all the way from production to delivery, detailing all the greedy pocket money you're making per purchase. And publish it in the website with each product. Now, after reading this, and knowing there’s this site called Alibaba selling it for 5rs, will the customer still buy the product? Well, will the majority of customers still be willing to buy it? If they ever did, I might have to say, that’s a reasonable price for that product. No more arguments!

But in reality, I don’t think that’ll be the case. If so, we’re fooling the customers by hiding the details.

..and, THAT is immoral.

Okay, good speech, but what about Apple selling a 60W USB-C charge cable (1m long) for 1679.97rs (as of 7th Sep 2025, without import charges and tax)? Is that fair?? NO! I never justified it either. Even adding the baseline manufacturing cost and the overhyped-so-called-niche-tech they inject into this "wire", the price is still 100 times below the greedy profit tag they slap on it.

(I mean, I don’t have the exact data, but how in this world could a mass-produced copper wire with a tricky end, combined with some USB standard’s copyright cost and some packaging, end up costing this much? Think about it, you can buy a high-quality-niche-end wired IEM for that price within the same market (too mcuh for a USB cable..))

I know you know: the world is hecked up. We’ve got shitty politics and the worst economy in this 2025.. But this, this is purely evil. The low-profile option you’ve got to be less evil in this society is simply to not be part of such evil work (deliberately)!

Will that make the world a better place? NO!
But we can’t demand the world to be a better place without starting from ourselves.. (Quoting Gandhi / Michael Jackson / Lego Batman — IDK who said it first.)

Okay, that’s all fine... But the so-called capitalist economy is something that evolved over time, right?

Yes, it is; but the fact that it evolved over time doesn’t make it good! What about all the other naturally evolved traits like patriarchy, caste/religious systems, corrupted politicians, murderers and thieves, and dirty-business-people (I only meant "dirty" business people).. Are all they good??

I guess, trying to become something better than our evolved selves is the real Punk Rock. (That’s my version of James Gunn's Superman quote!)

But does it make any sense at all? Why should I ever try to make this world a better place? Will anybody care? Even if we stay real, will our neighbor ever stay real for us when it’s their turn?

Yes, I guess so! Not just a guess, I got proof. What about superhero movies? A self-proclaimed masked vigilante goes and saves other people around them, uses his/her superpowers to do good things (maybe only to do good things) for society.

Statistically speaking, those movies and comics are all-time favorites and hits. I think most of my pals secretly think they’re Batman, deep inside...

Why should we, the Homo sapiens sapiens, ever celebrate a movie telling the story of a hero? I think deep down, we like to love each other, even if they don’t love us back (maybe yet another evolutionary advantage).

It’s not just about celebrating the movies. All of us want to become that someone sometimes! Even if we’re putting on a mask, even if we’re in great sorrow, even if the whole world is throwing crap at us, there’s this little part in us that loves to protect our tribe. Love/care, whatever you call it, I guess that’s what makes us, us. (No, I didn't meant the U.S. :)

And hence, I love people who love superheroes.

Climax Sound track: Teadyybears - Punk Rocker