My economics professor had an ax to grind but he's right in that we don't live in a free market.
He gave the example of how the sheriff paid a gas station a visit when gas first reached a dollar. He said the gas station had two choices: sell at 99.9¢ or lower or shut down the gas station.
Actually the gas station was already selling at 99.9¢ because that pricing was already in effect from when one gas station owner sold it at 12.9¢ per gallon and everyone copied him since they were losing business.
He gave the example of how the sheriff paid a gas station a visit when gas first reached a dollar. He said the gas station had two choices: sell at 99.9¢ or lower or shut down the gas station.