There used to be a time when the monopolist would not raise price to whatever they could ge away with. Daraprim was very affordable for 50 years until Shkreli bought out the manufacturer, the same with Epipens, until Mylan bought the product from Merck KGA. One could easily find more examples if one went looking.

Something changed in ths mid-90s. Neoliberalism became salonfähig, or something.