The point is that consumers are still able to bid down prices despite having no choice but to participate in the market. Individual sellers still have to convince individual buyers to buy their products, and to do so they have to price their goods competitively. It doesn't matter that there is no alternative to participating in the food market because there are alternatives within the food market.

> 15% of US households suffered from food insecurity

...partly because of healthcare costs, which is the number one cause of bankruptcy in the US. You're making our point.

They're not out of control, those people just happen to be very poor. They haven't been going up like crazy like health care costs have.