Is the Rent Too Damn High?

As you introduce more advanced machinery, the extra productivity they bring gets soaked up into rising land values. Even even the capitalists lose out to landowners because they do not get the returns on their capital. Improvements in the social fabric that just makes society generically better do the same thing. If people in a neighborhood are nicer and more helpful, provide a robust network of mutual aid, start a bowling league and a book club, et cetera, land value rises.