My hot take is that quality is inversely proportional to income. The more someone is paying for something, the more bloodsucking mercenaries are attracted to it that have less consideration for the quality of the output than for their own enrichment. (A corollary to this is that the more a job pays the more it will suck: the only way they can get people to come help and keep them there is to offer high compensation).
Look at trappist brewers. Long tradition of consistent quality. You just have to devote your life to the ascetic pursuit of monkhood. It attracts a completely different kind of person.
It's certainly a provocative thought. But I think it's too blunt. In our commercial world sometimes the cheaper thing works better and sometimes the more expensive thing works better. So the lesson I take away is that price is not a great signal in the absence of other context. Trappist brewers have some other cultural norms going for them, and the focus should be on those norms rather than price. The people attracted to it aren't thinking much about the money. If you value them, why would you?
Look at trappist brewers. Long tradition of consistent quality. You just have to devote your life to the ascetic pursuit of monkhood. It attracts a completely different kind of person.