No more free extra pages! & that Reciprocity thing!

In going online today, I found out that as off July 13 2010, it now cost US $82 to add extra pages to a US passport - at any US Embassy, it used to be free. It is still a next day pick up service. You get 20 pages so it breaks down to about US $4.10 per page. Each page is 2 sided with space for 4 stamps so 8 stamps a page, which comes to about US $0.51 per stamp. Then each stamp may have cost whatever the visa fee was + the 51 cents. Makes your passport kinda thick. I know, I have had it done twice. Mine is like a wallet stuffed with wad of dollar bills. Was kinda nice when it was free, especially when you are traveling on a budget and funds are limited. 82 bucks on a shoestring is a lot of cash to have to shell out. As far as I know the U.S. passport is the only one which will allow additional pages to be added. And the only one to be able to get a 10 year Indian visa. So there are pros and cons. The worst cons are the high fees charged for the South American countries: Chile(only applies to airport entry at Santiago), Bolivia, and Brazil (where you have to obtain the visa in your home country, i.e. the U.S. ), & China. It's all about reciprocity. I have met too many Brazilians who complain how difficult it is to get even a Transit Visa to fly through Miami: the applicant has to provide a letter of proof of employment in Brazil, show proof of funds at their bank account & undergo an interview...just to get a Transit Visa, not a Tourist Visa! So yeah, it's all about reciprocity. Bolivia never used to require a visa but when the U.S. started charging Bolivians over US$100 for a visa, Bolivia turned around and starting doing the same. Brazil won't even let you go pass immigration even if your flight is delayed and you need to stay to overnight at a hotel...unless you obtained your Brazilian visa from the U.S. Forget getting it in neighboring Argentina or Venezuela. Yeah, traveling on a U.S. passport in South America is rather costly on the administrative side.