I don't think I follow... What's "information with customers is too low" is supposed to mean, and how is that supposed to hurt the market and/or create higher prices?
There's no secret cabal or major conspiracy here, folks. Prices are going up because these products are selling less and less. Since the brands needs to continue to make at least the same amount of X dollars in profit, it's not rocket science that prices need to go up.
I believe I read an editorial by JA where the exposes the two basic models that companies come up with pricing, one based on real cost, and the 2nd based on marketing/how much they think they can sell the product for. In both scenarios, there's ZERO incentive or market push for the prices to go DOWN.
In the store, we see it every day, people being priced out of the market, specially folks who haven't upgraded for 10, 15 years.
Oh, and I don't think that the only time an amount of money is "stupid" is when it wasn't a good purchase. A bad meal at $20 is stupid, while a great one at $1000 might not be, if it was truly exceptional and memorable.
cheers,
Alex