Cui Bono? The two best analytical words in the English....well Latin language

So why have textbook prices soared far beyond inflation?  Why have new books that simply reshuffle and update mostly long held knowledge gone through the roof?  Perhaps it's that faculty members get paid to write them and other faculty members (their friends and colleagues in the discipline) make them required reading?  That would be those oh so egalitarian faculty members fighting for the little man.  But I guess not for the little student.  
Cui Bono - a great tool, isn't it?