>>>>If every corn producer sells at exactly the same price and there is no semblance of competition, then yes, I'd call them a cartel too - especially if their prices just happened to change all at the same time.
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>>>They do because their prices are dictated to the global commodity market which corn is traded on.
>>>The same is true of gold. Here's a simple test you can do at home. Go to a jewelry supply store and price a specified weight of gold chain. Write down the closing price of gold on that day. Go back to the same store a month later and price the same weight of gold chain and look at the closing price of gold on the exchange. You should not be surprised by the results.
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>>Where in that are you implying that there is lack of competition? If the price of a 14k Gold chain at all jewellery stores in city x is exactly the same at all times, then maybe there is something to talk about. But is that the case? Unlikely. The prices may be similar, but due to competition between stores, the prices will vary. This is not true of gas at the pumps. The prices at all stations (at least here in Toronto) are exactly the same - to the tenth of a cent. And they all change at the same time. Where is the competition that the free market is supposed to engender?
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>Keep in mind, this market is as free as the heroin market is to the addict. The oil companies, oil suppliers, oil speculaters, etc all know you are absolutely addicted to oil (a strategic commodity that can cause a nation to fail) and they can charge you absolutely anything for it. See the current situation for example.
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How can a company increase supply, e.g. if it's stimulated by prices, if it is effectively prohibited from increasing supply?