Kevin,
I disagree with you on this. There are plenty of companies out there who are willing to pay the prices we demand for our services, because they want quality work, not claims.
I read Robert's blog about "searchers, abstractor's and title examiners" and I thought he made some excellent points.
There are alot of searchers out there who drop their prices as soon as it slows down a little, I had a client tell me this in 2004. She said every time it slows down abstractors call in and  drop their prices despite having been told its just a little slow right now. And I know a number of guys who have done this over and over again.
If there are enough idiots out there who continue dropping their prices, with no viewpoint about what it is going to do to their fellow abstractor's or the industry in general, then it will go to hell in a hand basket.
The truth is these guys care only about themselves, not the industry as a whole.
With oil now hitting $100 a barrel I guess we'll see how some of them fare.