"some psychotic desire for more cash"
Ahh - the American way of doing business!
Seriously, I understand your points as regards smaller, cash-strapped publishers trying to compete with pbook & ebook formats.
But for the main stream publishers, esp. those who had previously hinted at delaying the ebook release to titillate or annoy their readers, this sales response today (IMHO) truly highlights the existence of a sizeable ebook market, the response to the 9.99 pricing, and the power of Amazon.