But it never goes down as much as it goes up. The political counterpressure is too great. This is what we mean by democratization. So, behind the huffing and puffing on all sides, in the long run, capitalists are in trouble in terms of maintaining levels of profitability. That is why they seek to do an end run around the issue of costs in order to do something about prices.
Capitalists say they believe in a free market.
It isn't true. A totally competitive market is one in which no producer can ever make any profit whatsoever. In a totally competitive market, the buyer can always force the seller to reduce his price to pennies over the cost of production. Profit requires restricting the freedom of the market by some degree of monopolization. The fewer the producers the higher the profit.