code is cheap and easy to write
Interesting statement.
Well, it is, really. Maybe not massively cheap or massively easy but certainly not the valuable scarce resource programmers like to pretend it is.
Cas

Code is as cheap as you allow it to be. Good code is a rare and valuable resource just like Albert Einstein was a rare and valuable resource, but it is only worth what you make it out to be.
Smart people tend not to make money from code because they don't take advantage of others like leaders do. Is the code on a killing machine valuable? Hell Yes It Is. Is code you give away valuable? Yes, but you will you not make money from it.
So good code is not only going to become expense it will become a necessity soon.