Beatlloydy, you have put it very nicely, that's how things should be. I think some stability will appear as a result of the fact that many "breeders for money" will drop out of the game once their efforts become unprofitable. Your example of selling stimsons or darwins for $50.- (if that's all you get) is applicable in your situation or anyone's with a pair or two but there are many breeders working with large collections, producing or aiming to produce different morphs, at least that's the direction I see the hobby heading.
Let me give you an example (of course native GTPs); to select for a strong vertebral line, you can't just start with one or two juveniles, you need more than that if you want to see some pleasing results in your lifetime. They breed at 3.5 years and then you have to wait another year to see what the babies (yearlings by then) turn out like, select individuals with the best potential and wait another 4.5 years to assess the next generation. I am talking about project that will take a decade or more, while you're maintaining a fairly large collection of mainly juveniles which are pain in the ..... to feed plus the adults and yearlings. Your returns come from selling off the undesirable adults and yearlings that don't show any potential for improvement of that trait.
After you factor in your initial investments; the original snakes, enclosures and accessories, incubators, rearing tubs plus the ongoing costs such as electricity, food, vet bills and incidentals you will arrive at certain figure (whatever it may be). Call it hobby, love, passion, whatever, your time invested in this ongoing process is going to be substantial and after doing it for a number of years you may realise that your time is actually worth something (in terms of $$$) and you want to earn some rewards for that too.
Of course, you can just wrap it up at any stage and take up stamp collecting instead, but that's what separates the goats from the sheep.
That's how I see it.