Who is the biggest culprit?

[sycks22]

I remember back in 1990 when the Thomas Leaf (my favorite player) was at a local card shop and they were asking full book $80 for it. My bro and I both wanted a new bike for our b-days and I assured my dad I would get a Giant impactor ( $100 bike + Thomas) while my bro would get the higher valued bike (diamondback tailwhip, $250). Those were the days when the only chance you had at finding a Brett rookie was one with 12 creases and a corner missing for $20 and you still debated getting it. Once the packs hit $4+ everyone started getting out it appears. Every now and then I'll buy a couple packs at target, but after getting 3-4 cards for $5 it's depressing. I kinda of blame the downfall of the hobby on card companies that need that 1 of 1 item to compete with the other 25 companies. I remember back in 1990 when Donruss Elite came out and they were numbered out of 10,000 and you were the man if you owned one. Now every other card is numbered out of 100 and nobody cares.