I completely agree with you about the fact that if you want something bad enough, you find ways of achieving it.
First you have to decide, if you really need a RED at such great sacrifice. Price of all electronic items go down by 50% every year. If you can wait for another year, you can buy these at half price.
You might also find many used REDs soon on ebay.
Is RED such a great life time investment? May be.
One thing is for sure. If RED play the cards right, and ramp up production and reduce the price of essentials, it can really put SONY and Panasonic out of business. Just like the APPLE II forced BIG Iron IBM to produce PC and then clones forced IBM out of PC business.
RED is still not ready to take on the world. It has to put together an ergonomic compact body with attached sound and LCD and EVF. It has to provide a basic 15 to 100 mm lens and tape drive and software for post as part of the basic package.
If RED does not get its act together soon, SONY and Panasonic with their enormous production and marketing might, may crush RED for good. Both these giants are coming out with competing products at competitive prices in 2008.
I am rooting for RED. I hope RED win the war.