No, I don't think so. It probably hurts the overall economy to squeeze every last bit of juice out of the consumer base like this, leaving them with no money to spend in other ways.
The maximum the business can charge is not just constrained by what the customer can afford, but also by the costs of alternatives that the customer could use (including the option of not doing it at all).
It's often the case that overall prices fall. For example, by keeping prices similar to what airline tickets used to cost for business customers, airlines can reduce the price to others and increase the number of flights, increase efficiency, and provide a better level of service.
Companies have always tried to maximize their revenue. It might be faster now but the process is no different than your local supermarket messing with the price of toilet paper every few weeks.
The innovation in that cheap capital has rolled up industries. It’s easy to keep meat prices high when 3 companies control 80% of volume. In past times, you have dozens or hundreds of suppliers who controlled little regional niche markets.
If I were to develop a retail product, when it came time to put a price on the package, you can be sure that I would collect data to see how much people were willing to pay for the product. That’s hardly “stop-the-presses!” headline news.
