I think that the argument is A) in a stationary scenario a company can't raise its prices arbitrarily because it will lose market share to its compatitors. Com

I think that the argument is A) in a stationary scenario a company can't raise its prices arbitrarily because it will lose market share to its compatitors. Competition keeps prices low benefiting consumers while investors still get some profit. Capitalism works great! B) on sudden changes, textbook conclusions can't be trusted because they are arrived at for stationary scenarios 99.99% of the times, at least that's how I think. You have to go case by case and make your best judgement. The current narrative is that as consequence of the pandemic, when you have "supply chains are collapsing" fearmongering, even if partially true, sellers figured that customers would be more tolerant to price raises, or at the very least, that their competitors would reason in the same way and so everyone can raise their prices and customers don't have a choice anyway. Personally I find it believable that companies would make such a calculation.