$10k Speaker Cables??????????????

I do not debate that there is importance in discussing the pros and cons of products. The price of those products is an important aspect of that back and forth. However, I do not agree that we should be producing such condescending vitriol about those who choose to sell such products or those who choose to purchase such products. It is of their own free will to do so. If I chose to buy a $10k cable brand new from distributor and I wasn't happy with it, then I would feel it is my responsibility to figure out how to make right on that transaction.  

So my answer is no. Just because you paid it, there is always something to say. Whether you return the product, get your money back, rant on line, file a grievance with your credit card or PayPal, or bring them to court, there is always something to say. In the end, handing over your hard earned money (not talking about a defective used product) rests on your shoulders. You may have thought those shoulders were well informed. But in the end, maybe they were not and that burden lies on the purchaser. 

Purchasing rhino horns to cure illness would not be a sound decision either medically or ecologically. 

Blame it on Noel Lee for starting the fancy wire market way back when!

Well, I can imagine, very theoretically speaking, buying $10k cables but only after extensive audition and comparisons and provided I have near top end system. Would be more difficult with hard earned dollars than with not so hard. It's America, my friends, invest right and do nothing else. Now that would very hard earned cash. Oh yeah, where do you get funds to invest ? You borrow or inherit or save up a little, or even steal. Life is easy, some just don't know it.

It takes more than a week to build a cable? Seems inefficient, or as audioman58 earlier mentioned "stretching tea breaks".

Empire State Building was built in a little over a year (13-14 months, if I remember correctly). Enough time for 60 cables. It was almost 90 years ago. And cables were used in construction, too.

EDIT: "Framework rose at a rate of 4 ½ stories per week."

4 1/2 floors of Empire State Building in 1930 is equivalent of one speaker cable in 2018. Where did we go wrong?

It's a good question indeed. Also, why did we go wrong ? And why might we be losing a distinction between right and wrong ? Multiple alternative realities, my a$$.