Hey @honeybee, that was a cute article you found. I find the topic of surplus (consumer and producer) comes up a lot. In order for trade to take place you need both the producers and consumers to be better off. More competition nearly always benefits consumers and sometimes even benefits producers.

Producers can compete through price or product differentiation. As a consumer you can benefit by having lower prices or more choice. Competition provides producers with incentive to improve their efficiency and/or quality or they will otherwise not survive. So competition can bring the best out of the strongest producers.

Another interesting thing about competition is that it can also facilitate cooperation. Cooperation often lowers cost which is also another big benefit to consumers.