#I'm not saying retail businesses can't and aren't greedy too but their greed actually has limits via competition or reality

[steal-this-idea]

But greed must be at the heart of it, no?

And I would think the biggest source of it would be rents

Things like apartments come with certain built-in and recurring costs such as property tax (because government needs to be funded), repairs/maintenance (probably the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics's fault), utilities (most of which I'm responsible for paying anyway but a monthly average should be knowable), and a superintendent (whose pay, aside from getting a free apartment to live in, can come in the form of subscriptions from each of the apartments in the complex)

I may be leaving stuff out like the costs of a property manager since my landlord owns many complexes, its corporation subcontracts with property managers to oversee groups of them (but that's many more apartments so monthly subscription fees should be lower than that of a single on-site superintendent...should be) but rent shouldn't be much more than those costs

But for some reason rent is almost always WAY MORE than those costs and it always rises, often (way) out of synch with inflation

To use my apartment as an example. Since 2011, inflation has been about 37½%. The inflation on my leases (same apartment with zero capital improvements, same paintjob, same carpet, same fixtures, etc.) has been exactly 50%. The "market rate" of apartment rents, however, has been over 90% in the same period in my area.

The inflation on all my other bills has either tracked with inflation or has even managed to be less than the official rate (my cellphone provider and ISP for examples). My wages have even managed to clock in at just-above the rate of inflation (about 40%) over that time period

Only one thing has been askew and that has been rent so I'm prone to blaming my life's unaffordability on the human tapeworms who feel entitled to an ever greater lifestyle simply because they own land

Whether via strict rent controls on existing structures or converting all rentals into regularly audited non-profits or local/state/federal government underwriting the costs of building new apartments and starter homes until local housing demand is sated, I would think inflation overall could be very well tamed.

A LOT of "inflation" is actually corporations taking advantage of "inflation" to hide profiteering.