Rewind back a year and prices were crazy, but I took the plunge, knowing full well it would only get worse, now that card has been sold for double what I paid for it. Next year will probably be even worse and if you think any new GPU's launches from NV or AMD or Intel for that matter are going to improve things you'e going to be sorely disapointed.
Sometimes hanging around and waiting is not the best policy. Sucks but there it is. Prices will never go back to sensible, precedents have been set, NV/AMD know they can ask for anything and people will pay.