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Academic publishing is a de facto third party referee of a scholar's career. You pointed it out very well. Until there's another way to weigh CV's, academic journals will still hold to that power.

In a sense one could say they've been trusted with a mission, and the crazy pricing is simply a side effect. I suspect academic publishing is funding something else... because, really, what do they need so much money for?

A question crosses my mind, now... How would you feel if companies publishing academic journals would be forced to donate a percentage of their earnings to, say, National Science Foundation in the US? Would you still feel it's unfair they're priced so high?