I know what you're trying to say Soda and agree with your last couple of paragraphs definitely!! BUT as far as the whole "they don't know the value of the dollar", I find very hard to believe if for no other reason than the fact that they claim to be so up on politics and worldly events that they would certainly know that the "common" folk are struggling right now and the dollar isn't going near as far as it used to. And if they are aware of that, wouldn't it be nice to think enough of their fans who are struggling, losing their jobs, taking pay cuts, etc that they might actually want to give their fans an affordable show just to give them a few hours of fun and excitement of seeing their favorite band where they don't have to think about all the things that are going wrong in their lives right now? It's hard for me as a huge fan to sit and listen to interviews with Don (not picking on him) where he wants to cut down the politicians for excessive spending and tell us all the things they are doing wrong to the "common" people of which he seems to claim he knows so much about and then see the price of their tickets that most people can't afford.
I don't think it would be fair to ask them to take a $1 profit, of course not but I'm fairly sure they are making a hell of a lot more of a profit than that at these prices. I totally agree with the whole hidden cost thing--- if a ticket is $195.00 then it should be $195.00 not $222.00!! And if tickets go on sale at 10 am on a Monday morning and I am on the ticketmaster sight at 10:01, I should be able to pull up a decent ticket instead of one that is 100 rows back in third tier. They DO have control of that and yet nothing is ever done about it.
I can sit and b*tch about it all I want but if I'm still paying those prices I'm enabling them to keep doing it. I hope I have enough will power not to give them anymore of my money at those prices anyways.
PM--I must say I am very impressed with the fact that you can say your point short and sweet without carrying on and on like I have several times in this thread. I could take lessons from you!