I agree with your post except the last point. To keep this game going Bioware will need money.
The cartel market does not offer any advantage pvp/pve wise endgame. Most of the items can even be bought of the GTN. You have to remember that a large portion of the players is probably F2P, so they don't sub and don't spend anything at the GTN. While it's ofcourse nice that they play and enjoy the game (more players, more fun etc) but they do not contribute financially. Therefore I think it's good that some nice/cool items are only attainable via real money.