Oh, they're thinking all right ~ thinking about how much money they'll save.

I understand that cocoa beans are becoming more expensive, even more quickly and drastically than everything else is becoming more expensive. In addition to the increased price of shipping, thanks to high oil prices, supply is shrinking. I don't know exactly why, but I think it's safe to assume that environmental factors are involved. The ecology/environment down there in those tropical regions seems to be deteriorating faster than anything up here in the temperate zones.

If chocolate ("even American chocolate") is to remain unadulterated, it is just about certain to become more expensive. Perhaps the best we can hope for is that any new cheaper formula is clearly identified as such and not passed off as the genuine article.

People ~ some people ~ will undoubtedly be willing to pay premium prices for quality "gourmet" (i.e., actual) chocolate. But the mass market for vending-machine candy bars might well prefer paying today's prices for tomorrow's imitation/processed/chocolate-like concoction.

(Vending machines are certainly capable of housing small bars of real chocolate alongside much larger portions of the cheaper stuff, either at the same prices or at different prices.)

It may become something like today's "processed cheese food," which isn't exactly cheese. Some folks literally and figuratively eat that shit up, while others of more refined taste insist upon real cheese and willingly pay for it.

A word in defense of carob: it's not chocolate, it's something else entirely, and some folks prefer it, or are better able to digest it, thanks to allergies or some other kind of heightened sensitivity. Carob is actually sweet, and therefore does not require a lot of added sugar to make it palatable, unlike chocolate, which by itself is donwnright bitter. The taste of carob is disappointing only to those who want and expect chocolate and are given something different as a substitute ~ because it is, after all, different. When you understand that "it is what it is," you should be better able to enjoy it.