You're watching people respond to price pressures and calling it their unforced preferences. This is like saying "obviously people prefer to be childless", or,

You're watching people respond to price pressures and calling it their unforced preferences. This is like saying "obviously people prefer to be childless", or, possibly soon, "apparently people prefer to eat only rice and beans". The outcome arises from a coordination failure that individual actors cannot resolve just by making best-responses within a market.