That's what happens when profit is the main objective,
rather than quality.  Greed is a terrible thing!

Profit was always the objective. Things have just shifted. The market was A LOT smaller back in the days of yore but less competitive. The kid buying a guitar now simply has more options. In the heyday of guitar based music there was no option to go online and order 10 guitars for what you would pay for a gibson. Guitars are far from the only products adjusting to generational buying shifts. Typewriters are pretty much extinct. Pop music constantly shifts. I'm sure clarinet players felt a type of way when big band gave way to rock and roll.

I know a lot of players who are complaining about the quality and direction Gibson is going. I'm not a huge Gibson fan, but I might buy one if they weren't so expensive. The company seems to be shooting itself in the foot. I hope they can turn things around.

i think Gibson, like a lot  traditional brands is struggling with how to compete with lower costing alternatives and changing demand for product. The odds of classic rock suddenly becoming the default pop genre is no more likely than ragtime dominating the pop charts.  best case is modern interpretations like when grunge movement was big or hybrid genres.
 

Mmm ... Solace by Scott Joplin. Just marvelous.

Fleer
Mmm ... Solace by Scott Joplin. Just marvelous.

Indeed. Believe it or not many kids appreciate that, but not enough to make it mainstream again.

People buy a Les Paul Standard because it's a classic tried/true instrument.
Once you've put on robotic-tuning (which can be flaky)... and change the nut to a brass adjustable piece (which changes string spacing), it's innovative... but no longer the same. 
I know our local GC (back in 2015) had to remove the robotic tuning system and put on Grover Locking Tuners to sell their remaining 2015 Les Paul Standards.
 
It's got to be difficult being a Heritage guitar company.
People buy/love the guitars for what they are... not what they could be (even technical improvements).
I have exactly the same reaction...
Whenever I see Gibson come out with something new/innovative/different, it's somewhat of a turn-off.
That's got to be frustrating... because the company wants to develop/innovate and create new instruments/standards.
 
Out of many guitars I've owned over the past 12 or so years (took up guitar later in life), two of the very best are Gibson Les Pauls.  Are they over-priced?  Maybe.
IME, Gibson's best guitars are exceptional.
Manufacturing anything of quality in the U.S. has gotten extremely expensive.
Doesn't matter if you're talking cars, guitars, etc...
It may never happen... but it would be nice to see a renaissance in quality U.S. manufacturing... where top-notch products could be made/sold at reasonable cost.  I fear the answer to this dilemma is above my pay grade.  
 
Though guitar may fall somewhat "out of vogue" with younger generations, maybe we're not doing enough to expose kids to the wonders of guitar... and the love of playing an instrument.
 

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Jim Roseberry
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That's happen to me. It was a long response to someone. When I noticed it was gone I just said...

Jim Roseberry
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We are still waiting for what you have to say...