Well. To take one program as an example: Bechmark's enrollment was in the toilet a whole year before the economy turned to shit. I doubt they would have sued me if I didn't have anything to do with that. After suing me, they ended up in an even worse situation, having to pay both my lawyers and their own. That probably ended up being 500-750k. That's the cost (for them) of about 20+ student enrollments. There are lots of similar stories about programs all over. Whether you want to believe it or are too depressed to, speaking out against these places and setting up websites does work. Benchmark claimed in the lawsuit their enrollment went from 65/year to around 16/year. I doubt they'll survive much longer, even after changing their name to "Benchmark Transitions". Look at the number of other schools (Thayer, etc) that have changed names as well (and shut down). Negative publicity *does* hurt them. The wouldn't sue or even respond at all if it didn't.
I can list off about 25+ programs that have shut down this year. Sure the economy had something to do with speeding up the process, but they wouldn't be in a bad situation in the first place if it weren't for people speaking out, the GAO's reports, websites like ISAC, the posters on Fornits and their activities outside fornits, etc. This isn't even to mention that programs were shutting down before the economy went belly up. Fornits itself might not do much directly in the scheme of things but a lot of projects are started here and a lot of ideas are sparked. Without that spark nothing would go anywhere.
I see two possibilities here. Either you're on the anti-program side and are just beaten up and depressed, or you're a program supporter who is here to convince others that resistance is futile. Either way, you're wrong. If hope fails you, you should still fight. Not necessarily because you see a possibility of "winning" (that exists), but because it's the right thing to do and every kid that's kept out of a program helps. Better than the shame of giving up and figuring out later you had them to the wall when you did. Now that they're weakened is the time to strike hardest.