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Surely the issue is that certain teams/constructors have monopolies, and therefore they are the only teams/constructors with any real demand, and so they push their budgets upwards and upwards as the prospective drivers are willing to pay more and more for a good seat? This then negates the smaller teams/constructors, as track time with them is deemed to be a waste of a season (or why bother when you can get a Prema seat?). Just open the formula up for constructors and things may end up being better? E.g. if someone developed a car better than the Dallara F3 car that cost less and a small team was the first to run it - suddenly the monopolies have been negated, all for a lower price!
The way I see it is that junior formula racing is too far down the road to nowhere, but the overwhelming desire of the FIA to have complete control over all potential junior formulae, and deny relevance to any viable competition through the needless superlicense points system (see Formula Renault Eurocup, only surviving due to prestige and the fact it offers actual value for money, especially when compared to F3/GP3 - which many good graduates have previously skipped without much hinderance to their career) means that there is no way out. The FIA is digging around looking for the treasure to save themselves but are really digging a grave for single seater racing.
A merger between the two also depletes the potential routes a driver can take - thus depleting the market for single seater drivers looking to move into F2 with "relevant experience." If there is meant to be a pyramid to the top, then it is a failure. If it is a ladder, then we'll have to get used to thin grids and few teams - the recipe for catastrophically high budgets for top drives. After all, there are many ways to climb a mountain, but only one way up a ladder.
A merger thus means that F2 will either thin out or be depleted in quality. Naturally, F1 will be next in line to be struck (although, given the current rates of rookies, it may be able to weather this). And also, what good are all of the F4 series' if only 10 from around Europe can graduate within FIA "licensed" series? Young drivers will pick up on this quickly - or at least management and teams will. We're already seeing many young drivers desert single seaters and aim for GTs or prototypes, or even touring cars! They know the system is broken, stagnant whilst simultaneously inflating and self-destructing.
This is very much me unpacking my thoughts on the issue, so sorry for the waffle, and inevitable incoherence.
The basic idea is that the regulated, closed nature of junior formulae is the core reason for these issues, the results of which are driving costs upwards as it puts severe, fairly strong limits on how success can be achieved - and that's what the money is for. Similarly, the FIA attempting to elevate their series above outsider competition is also a recipe for disaster, leading to depleted grids, less teams, thus higher costs and a greater exodus of young drivers to other disciplines.
Other issues I haven't mentioned are how this may actually be unavoidable and incurable due to a advanced technology in these cars, and of course logistics of a merger, although the post itself covers far more than just the merger!
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