Edmund,
For years you've dissed medium format prices but hey, they got you once and you wrote the check and last time I looked all the medium format guys were still doing good business.
The Pentax is a good deal IF you don't have any lenses or hooked into the Phase system, but when it comes to professional tethering, long (very very long) lasting equipment with a strong dealer network
(the stuff the professionals need), Phase is at the very tippy top of the list and no offense to Pentax but they're new lenses aren't cheap, nobody knows about their software suite, or repair facilities.
I can dig it that you want prices to come down, understand that since your not a pro, you don't need to spend the cash, but no medium format salesman I know is getting rich, they're just making a living and I hope they're around for a long time.
Phase, Leaf, Leica, Blad are not huge companies like Canon and Nikon so it's not like they're leveraging their weight.
People buy their products because they want to. Phase doesn't have subpoena power, they just offer a product and hope people buy.
So far it's been working pretty well for such a small company.
Chill on the money man.
IMO
BC