Price is determined by the balance of supply and demand, not the cost of production, which the recent price crash has shown again.
People here often seem to refuse to believe that miners are followers, not leaders. They react to what the market forces on them, not vice versa. And that's how it was designed and that's how it should be. No one other than miners needs to care about the cost of production.
Anyway, this thread is yet another that has not aged well but let's hope a mouse doesn't have to die.
this is a good point but not quite correct.
miners are neither "followers" nor "leaders", when you say they are "followers" you are exaggerating their involvement just as others are thinking of them as "leaders".
the fact is, miners are a part of this system like anybody else but they have more at stake compare to simple investors who only have bitcoin. because a miner both has bitcoin and has equipment. while a simple investor can sell and get out in a short time (as fast as he can transfer his coins to exchange and sell) the miner can't just get out if they want to because they have to shut down their miners and sell those to get out and you can't get back in as easy either because again it would require buying ASICs.