GP's not saying it negatively/judgementally I don't think, it's sort of a term of art in business finance: https://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/cartel.asp https

GP's not saying it negatively/judgementally I don't think, it's sort of a term of art in business finance: https://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/cartel.asp https://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/cartel.asp (I say sort of because you could say it's the same word same definition just perhaps used more literally. But it certainly has a connotation to most of us that I think is how you're reading it above.)