So just like the software industry story https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35614313 from a few months ago, is this a case where the accounting illusion of amortization (preventing companies from deducting expenses as they occur, and instead spreading out already-incurred expenses into the future) is creating a short-term incentive to destroy real products and services?

How is this better than simply working on a cash basis, letting companies take the loss in year 1 when they build X, and then, for tax purposes, carry forward those net losses against the future revenues? Sure seems much simpler.