Source: Mattstoller
Geopolitical supply shocks are becoming a tool that incumbent monopolies exploit to justify price increases, whether or not their own operations are directly affected. As concentrated industries use external crises as cover for margin expansion, regulators face a timing problem: by the time price spikes are clearly opportunistic rather than cost-driven, consumer and political damage is already done. This pattern suggests that antitrust enforcement needs to shift from reactive price policing to proactive structural limits on market concentration itself.