I don't disagree, yet, I do, I guess? When I say "deserve," I don't mean in some cosmic moral sense, but more in a bland cause-effect sense. Cthulhu would say something like: "Oh, uncoordinated buyers have little market power? Bad decision to be an uncoordinated buyer then, loser!" The condemnation and cruelty are not warranted, but the effects are the same.
Whether a bunch of buyers could accept this, decide to coordinate, etc., and what it would look like, is the thing I'm turning over. Like, to get really wild: what if you could join a buyer's group that restricted you? The downside would be a loss of freedom, but the upside would be access to market power. We seem to be OK making this bargain on the sell side with our employment...
There are obviously versions of this that could never work, but it would be very interesting if you could find one that could!
Whether a bunch of buyers could accept this, decide to coordinate, etc., and what it would look like, is the thing I'm turning over. Like, to get really wild: what if you could join a buyer's group that restricted you? The downside would be a loss of freedom, but the upside would be access to market power. We seem to be OK making this bargain on the sell side with our employment...
There are obviously versions of this that could never work, but it would be very interesting if you could find one that could!