The problem seems to be that every event has to offer a free T-shirt, tacky finishers medal and various other 'freebies' that you know you actually paid for as part of the race fee.
My girlfriend has worked in screen printing and is always aghast at the terrible quality of the T-shirt printing, but also the number of colors they use, how many different parts of the shirt are printed etc. Plus I'm sure they paid some designer to come up with the logo (most events near me insist on a different design every year!).
So yes, for the most part I have stopped entering due to the high fees, although I agree with some others, that entering a race gives you a target to aim for in your training, and you tend to get personal bests in a race with the extra motivation and support, plus bragging rights on your official time.
But with Strava and things like that now available, you get better tracking that some races even provide.