Elizabeth, You said it beautifully...right up to and including your remarks about being smug about spending foolish amounts of money on stupid wire...being suckered into buying by those awful advertisers, etc, etc...you're great. No one wants to believe that power cords make a considerable difference in any reasonably resolving system and my guess is one of the main reasons is because they don't want to acknowledge another factor [of cost] in their home system pricing equations. It's so much easier AND CHEAPER to say "Of course a stupid piece of wire of adequate gauge is just as good sounding as any "designer brands"; "only fools pay for aftermarket power cables".
Elizabeth, I agree that 10% of total system costs is about right...any more than that should be funneled into equipment BUT that 10% into the cables will make a CONSIDERABLY SIGNIFICANT IMPROVEMENT OVER STOCK CABLES and are indispensable
There is no argument or discussion here... a good aftermarket power cable of even modest cost will make an impressive, positive improvement in almost every 'remotely decent' audio system. Period.
Good night Irene.
Happy Lissn'n.