The biggest problem with trading cards is that in the old days, trading cards were something that kids got as toys, like comic books. They got them they looked at them, they played with them and the majority of them were destroyed or thrown away by parents. Then 40-50 years later the very few that survived became very valuable. Then all of the sudden people started thinking that they were gonna buy up a whole bunch of cards/ books and put them away and retire with the money they were gonna sell them for later. The problem with this rush of interest is first, with the huge increase in demand, naturally the prices followed suit and went up as well. Just like this case, 2 bucks for 5 cards?? Thats absurd!!! 50 cents for 25 cards WITH a piece of gum is more along the right lines. And second, everybody ran out and bought 2 and 3 and in some cases even more copies of each, thereby flooding the market to the point that it basicly made all the new cards worthless. CP cards sounds like a good idea in its own way, I could see myself wanting to collect them if they were reasonably priced. $2 for 5 cards is definately out of the question though.
Steve