Technology

I get your perspective. The halos of predatory shit are everywhere. Extended warranties, maintenance for pretty much any mechanical device - it costs a fortune to tune a piano -, snake oil salesmen and salesmen of legitimate products and services upselling you on a more expensive option that you don't need because you don't know better. It's bad, it's slimy, and you're right that if everyone took the time to learn the basic skillset associated with one area, it'd go away.

But there's just too many areas for that to be feasible. I can do the absolute basics when it comes to my car and bike, I can fend for myself very well where most electronic devices I use are concerned and I happen to have gone to Law school, so there's an entire industry of parasites that I'm lucky to know my way around. But that still leaves anything to do with home maintenance/improvement, furniture, healthcare, veterinary healthcare, financial services, diet, exercise regimes and Zeus knows what else I'll have to deal with in my life where I know jack and people who know more than me can still take advantage. It's too much to expect any one person to know everything.