Yes, I've been saying for a while now that the days of blaming the pandemic are so far away it's actually been several months since it's just AIB and Distributor complicit behavior that follows mining. It's probably been that way for close to all of 2021 or at least since Q2.
The issue isn't just waiting: each new mining craze is stronger, last longer and Nvidia and AMD learn 0 lessons from it and nothing will change, this is the new normal: you can always expect GPU prices to briefly touch back maybe 30 to 40% above MSRP if you're lucking before Ethereum raises again or some other coin replaces it and more miners jump into that one. There is absolutely nothing consumers can do at this point other than well, not being GPU consumers: just don't buy them anymore, play something else. Something that can easily run on existing GPUs and specially on APUs and Iris Pro chips if you got em on laptops and NUCs