Throwing in another $.02 into the discussion as a "40ish businessman" (actually a bit older
): one must also question student motivation. When I finished my PP-ASEL training and passed that checkride, I felt pretty confident in my ability to fly from paved runway to paved runway. No fuss, no muss, just be careful of the weather and aircraft performance. When I finished my PP-H and passed the checkride I felt like I had merely obtained a license to go out and get killed. And, to be VERY clear, this is after obtaining what I felt was excellent instruction. There is just so much more complexity to helicopter flying (preaching to the choir, no doubt), especially if it extends beyond mere paved runway to paved runway operations, that it can't be economically contained in the civilian PP syllabus.
As a result of my continued badgering of the outstanding school that I am lucky to be associated with ("Let's go do some 'challenging' confined space, let's go fly in the snow, etc.") if I would only get off my posterior and take the written I'd be ready for the commercial checkride.
Sadly it would appear that I might be the exception rather than the norm amongst the "40ish businessman" class (with all due respect to other exceptions!) And yet I am only now becoming confident that I might survive the next 100 hours. Not because I didn't pass the PP checkride with flying colors, but because doing so is probably not enough for real world helicopter operations.