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. However, no producer likes a monopoly if it's someone else's monopoly. They especially dislike a monopoly if it's legal, and the worst legal monopoly from their point of view is that of a state-owned enterprise. So, economic conservatives move in two seemingly contradictory directions. On the one hand, they seek to end legal monopolies.