The .com registration service that Verisign has captured is not a competitive market. If it were competitive, then I could choose a different provider that was more to my liking even it it cost me more. That's not an option if I want to use a .com domain. Verisign did not gain control of the .com registry for any reason that should allow them to milk it for more money per domain. Given that the number of domains keeps going up and the costs to run a registry keep going down (unless the people involved are not competent) there is no reason other than greed for them to even ask for more money.