I don't really see the grading companies selling the cards they slab these days. I definitely would not feel just using a nearly 20 year old article as the basis to decry grading as a whole. That said, it is enlightening stuff and raises valuable questions, for sure. I personally don't see the sheer act of grading (and subsequent increase in value) as price manipulation. I wonder why one would get "really angry" at the sheer existence of a TPG? Cards shouldn't make any collector angry; if they ever made me really angry, then it's time for me to find a new hobby
That advertisement strikes me as a company hawking their wares and making a sales pitch; no surprises there.
One can't have it both ways; on the one hand those cards referenced in the advert would only have cost a collector of raw a mere $290. Whereas slabbed they cost the collector of slabbed much more. Are they worth more cash slabbed because of the collectors in that market and what they are willing to pay? Sure. But it seems to me the raw collector there has the edge-- he could have bought and owned the raw, enjoyed them, and if ready to ever sell, had them graded. Every slabbed card, after all, began as a raw card. Now if the raw collector wants that card that has been slabbed and is expecting to pay a raw price, well, as Austin powers would say, 'That train has sailed.' The card has been converted from raw to slabbed and if it was that nice to become a very pricey card, good for whoever found it raw and first had it graded.
The way I see it, no one is forcing anyone to buy anything they don't want. The fact is that buyers clearly feel more comfortable with some type of third-party standard in place. There are guys that swear by and agree no matter what with that standard, and there are guys that in effect grade the graders, ponying up only when a card is accurately or under graded (I fall in the latter category).
If someone is comfortable buying raw and has the eye to detect trimming and the like, I've seen great amounts of raw available and some really nice, affable, knowledgable dealers of raw at shows. So I'm sure it is quite possible. It's all about enjoyment and what gives one pleasure.