The Great Divergence

[Zenda]

Almost definitionally, arbitrage is not the problem - someone must have already owned something, and someone else must want to buy it, for the arbitrageur to make money buying and reselling it.

I didn't say there was a problem with arbitrage. What problem are you thinking about?

Also, with options you never need to buy or sell goods. With futures, the holder is only obligated to sell goods, and only when a buyer of the goods wants these for the agreed 'future' price. For simple buying and reselling of goods on the same market, no arbitrage is needed.