Merry Christmas to you too Mayor Bitcorn.  



Many prominent BS/Core developers have spoken (in public) to the need to maintain transaction fees at a high level (e.g., in order to subsidize 2nd layer systems such as Lightning Network, and in order to pay for security when the subsidy ends).

BS/Core also restricts competition by censoring developers from the mailing list, conferences and hiring a PR team to promote and control the narrative on social media.  Adam Back admitted to hiring a large PR team to "correct misinformation" on Twitter recently.

So, yeah, BS/Core meets the definition of a cartel.