These are tough economic times for all, especially most manufacturers.
The current fuel costs are killing companies and workers alike.
People's discretionary income, if they have any, is being eaten up by these costs. Add in that if you live in a cold climate as it is here in the winter your trying to plan ahead for $5.00/gallon heating oil.
Just my little 48x26' 2200 sq ft split takes 600 gallons of oil a year to heat.
Three years ago that was $1.00 a gallon, now it will be $5.00
That's $3000.00 for what was $600.00 in just 3 years my friends.
Add in that everything is WAY up because of transportaion costs and you come down to the fact that to ask the manufacturers to kick into a kitty is just piss poor timing.
To me the status quo is the smart way. All thats needed is that the people who do the reviews are people you trust to post the truth.
Same as benchmarks, you know whose are legit and whose are BS.