This all due to the 'deficit-causing' spiral of poor preparation choices and expansions. The galaxy map does not inform us about overhead, so a system with a potential profit of 51cc looks like a good idea. It isn't. Good preparation targets have to be more than 62cc in potential profit, because beneficial control systems are from densely populated regions of space. I know that many of our current 'deficit-causing' control systems have been with us from the beginning, or are border systems and only stopped bringing in income due to Contested Systems.
Right now our eight worst systems were prepared and expanded for selfish reasons, or they didn't understand how the economics of Power Play worked. Those right there derail us with an unfortified deficit of -480cc entirely by themselves. And yet they are consistently fortified every week.
You can go ahead and blame the "silly economics", but we can only blame ourselves for these actions.
Alternatively, you can also blame the Galaxy Map for omitting Overhead, or FDev's Preparation Mechanics for being ridiculous, but good luck trying to get any of that to change any time soon.
