except that it's not. Every government who ever did price fixing said literally the same thing. Then people make black markets trading chickens for goats. It's literally impossible to prevent and the first time someone does it your price fixing scheme evaporates.
Has it been done at the scale we’re about to enter? I honestly can’t see an alternative here, but I’m happy to hear your thoughts. We’re talking most of the Western world, and to a lesser extent China/India, but they traditionally keep the elders at home for free anyway (which means they will have to subsidize the average working age people - front loading the problem essentially).