That's the major disconnect in these discussions : conflating feelings and emotion towards something we all love (Disney) with actual facts.That's just obnoxious.
Maximizing shareholder value is not some new 21st century construct. It's been around since before WDW was built.
Disney is a publicly traded corporation whose board has legal and fiduciary responsibilities. They are required to act within certain parameters to promote the value of the company and maximize shareholder value. The shareholders then vote to hold them accountable to their job responsibilities. Most of us on these boards have some kind of retirement fund (public or private) that relies on corporate boards doing that to the best of their abilities.
I started planning my first family WDW vacation using this website 14 years ago during a major economic recession. Every single year since then, people make declarations on here like they are fact that Disney has gone too far and NEXT YEAR is going to be the year people stop paying the high prices for "less" service and stop going to WDW.
This is a great place to share opinions and feelings. We all have different ones. If you feel WDW is too expensive and not worth your money - go ahead and share that and stop giving them your money. When someone shares and opinion or an emotional feeling and passes it off as fact, it's OK to disagree with it and point out why it's nonsense.