--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Most of these charges that people pay are…" description: "\"Most of these charges that people pay are economically unnecessary. There's no real cost behind them. There's no real value behind them. So, they're wh..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/526/michael-hudson-2134_economist_most-of-these-charges-that-people-pay-ar_703085.jpg" --- # Most of these charges that people pay are economically… ![“Most of these charges that people pay are economically unnecessary. There's no real cost behind them. There's no real value behind them. So, they're what the classical economist called empty pricing. Prices with no real cost value. What they called rent and fictitious capital. Capital claims on…” quote by Michael Hudson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/526/michael-hudson-2134_economist_most-of-these-charges-that-people-pay-ar_703085.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/526/michael-hudson-2134_economist_most-of-these-charges-that-people-pay-ar_703085.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/526/michael-hudson-2134_economist_most-of-these-charges-that-people-pay-ar_703085.jpg) > “Most of these charges that people pay are economically unnecessary. There's no real cost behind them. There's no real value behind them. So, they're what the classical economist called empty pricing. Prices with no real cost value. What they called rent and fictitious capital. Capital claims on junk mortgage borrowers. The pretense is that all these debts can be paid but it's all fictitious, because everybody knows - at least on Wall Street everybody knows - that many debts can't be paid.” [Michael Hudson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-hudson/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Many fees and charges are artificial, lacking real cost or value, resembling rent or fictitious capital that masks unsustainable debt. **In simple terms:** Some fees have no real cost, acting like rent and hiding debt problems. Key Takeaway Identify and challenge empty pricing in finance. Themes economics financial criticism debt Mood critical analytical Type analysis commentary When to use this quote - budgeting - investment decisions - regulatory review Key Concepts rent theory fictitious capital financial engineering Questions to Reflect On - What fees seem unjustified in your experience? - How can regulators expose fictitious capital? A Different Perspective Empty pricing can be hard to eliminate due to entrenched interests. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Economist](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/economist/) [People](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/people/) [Pretense](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/pretense/) [Real value](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/real-value/) [Values](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/values/) [Wall](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/wall/) [Wall St](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/wall-st/) [Wall street](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/wall-street/) ## Related quotes > [The banks themselves were doing business on capitals three-fourths of which were fictitious. 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