Oracle, I do take offence to being "indifferent". We do not make the rules but sadly we are the grim reapers that have to deal with the owners. We do not set the prices Cessna charge for the parts although we bear your dissatisfaction at what the manufacturer charges. In no other industry I know of would you be provided with parts at such a low margin to keep your aircraft flying and as pointed out previously you would pay much more per hour to have your Toyota serviced.
Like I said previously I would be very happy if we had US style rules and the SID's were optional or if you had an option to elect not to do a SB or a SID on a private category aircraft and accept responsibility for doing so. Sadly all too often the LAME is the meat in the sandwich and cops the abuse of the owner that really should be directed elsewhere.
The decline of GA over the last 20 years has a lot to do with the lack of new aeroplanes, the clusterf*#&k regulatory environment and the privatisation of those airports that traditionally bred new pilots that in turn purchased new aeroplanes. I fail to see how you can blame the LAME for this? When I started in the trade the aircraft were a lot newer and did require less maintenance, the cost of a bare 100 hourly has always been around the same in man hours its all of the rectifications, worn parts, little bits of corrosion that need to be cleaned up and now SID's. 100 hourly's on older airplanes are more like rolling restorations as they age.
Pre SID's Cessna in the early 90's introduced an optional aging program called CAPs but again no one wanted to do them either, remarkably they are very similar.
Go to the AMROBA web site and look at the newsletters that show the differences in CASA regulations v the FAA and see how we in the industry have fought for many years to bring some sense to the mess we are currently in.
Please next time you decide to blame this whole mess on the LAME take a deep breath and think who is really to blame? Yes GA is expensive but who's fault is that?