Because social problems cannot be solved by technological solutions, there are limited opportunities to invest capital into the solution itself. This is a problem for capitalists, since investing capital for gain is what they do. Once the opportunities to provide the tools that make implementing the solution to a social problem are exhausted or the market for them becomes crowded, the inevitable slide from a social problem to an infrastructure problem begins. Infrastructure problems are commodity problems, and the only good way to get gains from capital investments on commodity problems are risky, limited, or both; speculation, monopoly, manipulation, regulatory capture, etc..
Just as there are no technological solutions to social problems, there are no capital opportunities in social problems because the way in which social problems are solved is counter to the needs of a capital market to grow. Solving social problems is a no-growth market, the ultimate no-growth market in fact; success in a social problem domain is the elimination of the problem. Conversely, success in a capital problem domain is the indefinite perpetuation of the problem. Curing cancer, as an example, is a place where capital investment in new tools and techniques can be rewarding. Preventing or eradicating cancer so that no one needs a cure because no one ever gets the disease, on the other hand, is a place where no investment in new tools and techniques can be rewarded because the root problem has been solved and “not getting cancer” is now an infrastructure problem and a commodity that no one wants to obtain at a premium cost.
We can see this play out in healthcare scenarios throughout the U. S. as for-profit hospitals, medical technology providers, and pharmaceutical companies struggle to find growth and profitability opportunities in a market that, aside from cosmetic surgery, is largely viewed as being in the infrastructure problem domain by the general public — outrage over the cost of insulin or hospital stays or life-altering treatments is a strong indicator that the perception of these services has become something that the society expects as “table stakes”, and therefor it has become a commodity in the minds of the public, and the problems associated with delivering medical care have become infrastructure problems that don’t have opportunities for long-term capital investments to return value in the absence of the very kinds of monopoly, regulatory capture, and market manipulation plays that we seen in the healthcare industry.
Investors would be better served putting their money elsewhere, and so would the people who need healthcare in the United States.