1. The items in the MIC are overpowered compared to the DMG. I and others have mentioned examples of this. The rationale is irrelevant; the comparison is evident.
Which I have been repeatedly explaining as expected and a necessary step towards correcting the obvious item pricing errors/discrepancies in the DMG. You keep harping on that one point as though it were supposed to mean something, but my point now, as always is that it doesn't count for anything.
Yes, it deviates from the DMG norms. SO WHAT??? If something is erroneous, it should be corrected. Just that wotc prefers to released its so-called errata in the form of supplements we have to pay for (think rules compendium) rather than free PDFs.
2. I was not, nor am not, nor have I implied that I was a "macroeconomics major". To my knowledge, that major does not exist. I believe you might be referring to an economics major, which does exist.
Which is kinda ironic, given that a few posts back, you certainly were giving us the impression that you were some sort of expert in economics, and were attempting to use that information to refute our points (however irrelevant it may be).
Now someone gives a very good analogy using cars to demonstrate what MIC is to DMG, and you suddenly make an about-face and go "Actually, I am not all that good, so it doesn't really matter that you are suddenly citing excellent examples that I cannot answer."
To which, I say: DnD is not a real-life economy anyways. It is simply an artificial one created for the sole purpose of allowing PCs to dump their useless gear and purchase the eq which they need/want.
So what if a higher demand ought to result in a higher supply of healing belts? The DM is ultimately in control of how plentiful or readily accessible they are in his campaign world. The desigers price the MIC items based on how useful they are, not on how they are supposed to interact on a supply-and-demand basis in a real-life economy.