{"id":5715,"date":"2025-07-16T16:56:13","date_gmt":"2025-07-16T14:56:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tulipemedia.com\/?p=5715"},"modified":"2025-10-31T18:43:45","modified_gmt":"2025-10-31T17:43:45","slug":"jeu-de-dupes-theorie-reflexion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tulipemedia.com\/en\/jeu-de-dupes-theorie-reflexion\/","title":{"rendered":"The Fool's Market: How Price Wars and Inertia Destroy the Economy and Welfare"},"content":{"rendered":"

REFLECTION \u2013 There are markets where prices seem to follow no logic. Not because they are too expensive, contrary to what most people think. But because they are abnormally low<\/strong>. Too low to be sustainable. Too low to be fair. And yet, companies hold<\/strong>They are just getting by. They survive, if not live. <\/strong>This paradox, which can be observed in many sectors ranging from commerce to services, including catering, but also among freelancers, deserves a name, which I will call here: \ud83d\udc49 the fool's market.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\ud83e\udde9 How did we get here?<\/h2>\n

Several mechanisms contribute to this invisible but profound imbalance:<\/p>\n

\ud83c\udfad 1. Zombie companies<\/h3>\n

Structures that generate little or no profit, but which survive:<\/p>\n

    \n
  • \n

    thanks to debt,<\/p>\n<\/li>\n

  • \n

    to the persistence of the leader,<\/p>\n<\/li>\n

  • \n

    or to a form of habit\/routine and adaptation to the lowering of the standard of living.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    This type of situation is typical in the restaurant industry, which is a two-tiered sector: on one side, premium restaurants aimed at a certain elite, and on the other side, all the other restaurants.<\/p>\n

    And in the market occupied by what I vulgarly call "other restaurants", the consumer makes his choice according to a subtle balance between accessible prices and popularity (on social networks), with a panurgic concentration of customers on certain brands and ephemeral fashion effects.<\/p>\n

    I am not going to talk here about the exceptions (the brands that manage to charge affordable prices while remaining profitable, and that have good commercial activity), nor about the brands that can afford to impose the "real" price thanks to their premium positioning.<\/p>\n

    I will focus on all the other players, the everyday traders, the freelancers who are starting out, and all those whose only condition for survival is to align themselves with their neighbors, with prices set haphazardly, often too low to support the costs, the cost of labor, and beyond that, the human cost.<\/p>\n

    Most people complain about excessively high prices. But in reality, most craftsmen, traders, and some freelancers are actually not profitable or barely profitable, despite their enormous working hours, and the worst part is that they do this for several years.<\/p>\n

    We could thus speak ofzombie companies, or even zombie markets<\/strong>These markets are occupied by players who practice prices that are too low<\/strong>, and this can be explained in several ways:<\/p>\n

      \n
    • new entrants with little experience who impose low prices on the market through ignorance or to grab the best deal;<\/li>\n
    • the big players who benefit from economies of scale and who push prices down;<\/li>\n
    • companies that survive for several years thanks to debt.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

      Companies thus find themselves mired in a commercial strategy imposed by the market, and drag the oldest into bankruptcy, before suffering the same fate themselves, a few years later. This is what I call "zombie inertia," which allows them to survive artificially for several years. This phenomenon distorts the market, and new entrants make the same mistake, until death ensues.<\/p>\n

      \ud83e\uddee 2. Initially, poor pricing<\/h3>\n

      Many beginners or solo entrepreneurs underestimate:<\/p>\n

        \n
      • \n

        their charges,<\/p>\n<\/li>\n

      • \n

        their working time,<\/p>\n<\/li>\n

      • \n

        future or hidden costs.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

        The result? Prices that are \u201cacceptable\u201d for the market, but unbearable for them<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

        \ud83d\udeaa 3. Inertia as a prison<\/h3>\n

        Often it is harder to stop<\/strong> than to continue to \u201ceke out a living\u201d:<\/p>\n

          \n
        • \n

          we hope that tomorrow will be better,<\/p>\n<\/li>\n

        • \n

          we are afraid of losing everything,<\/p>\n<\/li>\n

        • \n

          we have employees or a family to support,<\/p>\n<\/li>\n

        • we are already prisoners of financial and human investment.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

          So we stay. We get exhausted. And we are feeding a market distorted by inertia, which can sometimes allow us to survive for several years, to the detriment of ourselves and our competitors.<\/strong><\/p>\n

          \ud83d\udca5 But who pays the real price?<\/h2>\n

          Just as there is no such thing as free (and someone who consumes something free over time actually pays for it in another way without being aware of it), a product whose price is abnormally low has a final cost, and there are those who will have to pay sooner or later. Indeed, the reality is that the cost is shifted<\/strong> elsewhere, either geographically (modern slavery) or over time (example of VTCs whose prices were corrected late).<\/p>\n

          And among the losers in the low-price war, we find, of course, the entrepreneur who sacrifices himself, the employee under pressure whose salary is not up to standard, and the customer whose shopping experience is mediocre.<\/p>\n

          At the macroeconomic level, the whole society is also living in debt, and ultimately risks losing its sovereignty.<\/p>\n

          \ud83d\udc68\u200d\ud83d\udcbc The entrepreneur<\/h3>\n

          It is he who pays physically, mentally, emotionally<\/strong>. In fact, it is often he who ends up:<\/p>\n

            \n
          • \n

            ruin<\/strong>,<\/p>\n<\/li>\n

          • \n

            nervously exhausted<\/strong>,<\/p>\n<\/li>\n

          • \n

            Sometimes isolated<\/strong> Or in depression<\/strong>,<\/p>\n<\/li>\n

          • \n

            unable to provide for his family.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

            We too often romanticize \u201cthe courage of the independents,\u201d but we forget to what extent This model can be destructive when unbalanced<\/strong>And this is currently, unfortunately, the fate of many traders, craftsmen, and entrepreneurs who are being sacrificed on the altar of excessive debt, the individualization of lifestyles, and the lowering of living standards, particularly in Western Europe.<\/p>\n

            \ud83e\uddcd\u200d\u2642\ufe0f Employees and society<\/h3>\n

            When small businesses close, artisans collapse, and independents give up, entire territories are becoming deserted.<\/strong><\/p>\n

            And at the same time, populations are becoming poorer, the middle classes are crumbling, and we are hearing more and more:<\/p>\n

            \n

            \u201cEverything is too expensive today.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

            But too expensive for whom? <\/strong>And compared to what? <\/strong>Often it is not that it has become too expensive, but that the old prices were not realistic <\/strong>on the one hand, and that there is actually a transfer of wealth on the other hand to other continents that are already light years ahead in terms of innovation and progress. So probably a problem at the political level, with a big lack of concerted planning, and laissez-faire of the market. On the contrary, we have in France the complete opposite, with administrative coercion imposed on businesses, without any long-term economic vision.<\/p>\n

            So, certainly, in some countries, the accumulation of wealth has come at the cost of several generations of sacrifice (or the plundering of other countries). But there are surely subtle solutions to be found in order to restore people's taste for work, while allowing them to live decently from their work...<\/p>\n

            But let us return to our low-price war, and to our famous fool's bargain, where inert companies drag one after the other towards bankruptcy, if not at least towards decline.<\/p>\n

            \ud83c\udf00 The great misunderstanding<\/h2>\n

            At the local level, the consumer\u2014who is an economic agent and therefore seeks to maximize his utility\u2014thinks that the retailer or independent is \u201cexaggerating\u201d with his indecent prices. The entrepreneur, taken to task, thinks that it is he who does not know how to do it, and he often ends up sad and frustrated. Politicians, for their part, believe that \u201cthe market will self-regulate,\u201d leaving only useful brands that meet a need. Except that over time, there is less and less supply, less and less innovation, and the proposal is more and more homogeneous, not to say mediocre, due to a lack of resources.<\/p>\n

            And each one keep playing this fool's game<\/strong>, in a system where everyone loses in the long run<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

            Moreover, impoverishment and the desertification of city centers<\/a> not only leads to family and societal dramas, it also raises the question of the society in which we want to live.<\/p>\n

            By digitalizing everything excessively, and reducing the human being to a single and isolated individual, the question arises of happiness level<\/strong> of the human being. The destruction of the social and economic fabric is likely to create "zombie individuals", without purpose, without passion and obviously devoid of friendly and romantic encounters, which is nevertheless one of the reasons for being human.<\/p>\n