Reason being, with everyone doing it, theres gonna be a lot more material goin in, and with that huge increase, therea gonna be a lot less demand. I think alot of these small time, tryin to get rich quick guys are gonna realize "crap this isn't worth it anymore. Im out." Just like the gold rushes of way back.
Its still about the same amount of material going in I'd think but just only by so many more people like you said. And I think thats what knocks out some of the competition but the die hards like us (like you said, its in our blood) will still be left standing. A few more than when I/we originally started out like you say but I do think it will settle.

However, the economy is what is dictating this boom right now and if jobs cant ever be found by lots of these folks scrapping to help make ends meet, it might just stay the same. I've noticed quite an increase in scrappers in the past 2 years and so far it doesn't seem to be declining.