&gt;<i>People pay a &quot;consumption tax&quot; to fund every part of the products they buy.</i><p>Yeah, only those other parts:<p>a) are not relevant to the topic discussed. If I discuss where ad money go, I don&#x27;t have a reason to show where money for packaging go.<p>b) are essential to the production of the item (besides the fact that there are millions of products that are sold without ANY advertising at all -- e.g. all no-brand-name items) [edit: fixed &quot;not essential&quot;]<p>&gt;<i>Some investors lose their shirt. Some companies go bust.
My question is: so what?</i><p>So, when it comes to online advertising, it&#x27;s the basis for tons of tech-related activity (the reason d&#x27;etre of most typical web startups for example, most online media, etc.), and if it goes bust there will be a lot of blood.<p>The impact to HN&#x27;s crowd and the web as we know it in general is not even comparable to what happens if some market like &quot;PVC supplies&quot; for products goes bust.