Literally all of societal progress is built on the back of "that thing we used to spend a bunch of time/money on, well we made it cheap and can now redirect that productivity and resources elsewhere" for every conceivable value of "thing", food, clothes, written communication, transportation, energy, consumer junk.

What you are arguing for is a non-starter. Society will not accept higher costs for any duration of time. Some route around the problem that is driving up prices will be found.