As for the $10 being a lot, sometimes its more an issue of "would you rather?" I see $10 dollars and think "Manga, or dinner....?" Its really hard to keep buying manga when you have to make choices like that, because $10 is a lot to some people.
I don't think anyone has advocated going hungry so one can buy manga.
The fact of the matter is that manga publishing is a business like anything else. In order for manga to be made, a lot of people need to be paid: the author, the editor, the translator, the printer, the distributor, etc. The $10 you spend on that volume of manga helps pay salaries and royalties. And even if you take the printed book out of the equation, you're just removing one link in the chain; the chain is still there.
When you download manga from sites like these, you're saying "I don't want to spend money on this, but I still want the fruits of the labor of all the people involved in making it."
I'm not going to argue that downloading their work is like stealing money right out of their pockets. It's not; you weren't going to buy it anyway, so they're not losing something they would have had to begin with. But you're taking the product of all their hard work and creativity and giving them nothing back in return. It's a pretty lopsided equation.
So whatever happened to not getting something until you had the money to buy it? It used to be that if you didn't have enough money to buy something, you saved up until you had enough money and then you bought it. It didn't matter what it was; if you couldn't afford it, you had to
do without. Sometimes that meant choosing among several things you want and only getting one.
But that's the way commerce works. It might not seem fair (e.g. you can't always get what you want), but the point isn't to be fair. The point is to compensate people for their hard work so they can continue to do that work and make the things you want. If you take away the idea of paying for the things you want, that entire process breaks down and people can no longer make enough money by creating the things that people want. (And it's one big reason why the anime and manga industries have had so much trouble lately.)
The problem that I see it is this: there's a sense of entitlement when it comes to intellectual property like manga, anime, TV shows, movies, etc. It's the attitude of "I can't afford it but I should be able to have it anyway." The internet has created a situation where anything you want is available any time you want it, even if you're not supposed to have it.
Rationalize it all you like, but by downloading manga from sites like these, you're still taking something you shouldn't have. Even if it's not licensed in the US. Even if you really want to read the latest issue. Even if it takes a while for a volume to come out. The fact remains the same: you're not supposed to have it but you're taking it anyway.
And that's the problem with these sites: they're giving away things that aren't theirs to give away. That's why they're being shut down and that's why you shouldn't be using them.
