In many countries, its illegal to manipulate prices in bulk.

What makes it manipulation? If 5 companies want to buy a quadrilion ram chips to build datacenters, why is this manipulation moreso than a million companies each wanting to buy 100 ram chips?

I think the problem is that both the buyers and producers are too large. Governments should not allow companies to become this big, because... <gestures broadly at everything>. If there were a thousand ram makers and a thousand datacenter builders, this particular problem would not exist.

But you can't just label any price evolution you dislike as "price manipulation".

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Roark66 21 hours ago | parent | next [-]

>What makes it manipulation?

Their size and the effect on the market they have

>×If 5 companies want to buy a quadrilion ram chips to build datacenters, why is this manipulation moreso than a million companies each wanting to buy 100 ram chips?

Because they are 5 companies, especially when it can be shown they work in unison (formed a cartel)

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dsr_ 21 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

It's certainly price manipulation, but not likely to be intended price manipulation. Your arguments are flawed but you have reached the right conclusion.

This is one of the many flaws of badly regulated markets.

(There are no free markets, and there is never perfect information, and people often behave remarkably irrationally for many reasons.)

	▲	cyanydeez 16 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Reading through the Epstein file, it's naive to conclude that no collusion is happening. Remember when FAANG was caught red handed manipulated hiring to depress salaries? Just seems like a lot of astroturf-ish behavior ignoring real world happenings: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-Tech_Employee_Antitrust_L...

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cyanydeez 16 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoebus_cartel

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It's interesting how little you've examined similar cases. And you some how assume good faith in their behaviors.