But what if the alternative is no bookings, and thus no income?
Plenty of decent punters are those who don't have much spare cash.
You have to see it from a market rate point of view. If you get yourself into a Dutch auction that puts pressure on everyone else to lower prices which lowers the market rate. All things being equal clients will go for the cheapest.
In other industries people decide how much they want to earn annually and set their rates accordingly. Others will set a margin. I don't see how sex work is different. As for fielding client calls there's no difference between sex work and any other industry. You're always going to get dud clients and tyre kickers and hagglers trying it on for a discount, and others shopping around based on price not quality. If you want to shag half the planet no questions asked for no margin you'll have a queue around the block. That's not sustainable or healthy. I've checked some locations and the going rate is half what I charge because of oversupply and other sex workers chasing customers.
I don't like the ethics of companies like Apple or Canon but in a recession there are some companies like them who actually raise their prices not cut them. Yes, that's partly because of captured markets and marketing but it's also because they want to maintain margins which retains quality staff and pays for product investment so they are ahead of the next business cycle. Other companies might maintain a margin during the good times and savings so when margins are squeezed by a downturn in business they can weather the storm and still be on their feet when the good times return.
I'm mentioning this as food for thought. I'm not taking a religious view on prices and don't know everything.