Has the cost of HiFi gotten a bit too much?

The 800 lb elephant in the room is the political facts that are part of the answer to the original question. Govt regulations ,Printing $$$, inflation, etc etc.

The alarming thing IMO is that 25-30% of the people do NOT see the things that are going on right before their very eyes. Then they point to those who do and say, you are stupid, crazy ridiculous. I'm reminded of the cable, fuse, tweak threads, of late

High End Audio is never to much for me.

tsacremento+2 The rebirth of the gilded age! Being a realtor, we know record low interest rates and shortages of new home builds have driven up home prices.

@andy2 Where does that cash come from?

In my case, and I expect most others on this site, it came from a lifetime of hard word, living below my mothly income so I always had something left to invest for my future, making prudent investments over several decades and not expecting the government or anyone one else for that matter to be responsible for be past retirement age.  "The Fed" had nothing to do with it.  

@bigtwin +1