Would a nonmonopolistic system be an incentive for a leaner process, and lead to affordable prices?

Paul (1990), as a basic part of his program for critical thinking, contrasts fairminded critical thinkers with both uncritical thinkers and closedminded critical thinkers.

There was no continuity in these dreams […] Sometimes they would be alone in places which he did not recognize, sometimes they would be living, under the Stuarts or the Valois or the Cæsars, or other dynasties long since unkingdomed […]

To remember which values are truthy and which are falsey, just memorize the five falsey values - undefined, null, 0, "" and NaN -- and remember that everything else is truthy.