Isn't that stuff about the cords just anecdotal? I have every power cord I've ever owned for my various Apple products; sometimes I feel like they are taking me over. Totally agree on your other points though.
I can replay with equal validity that I've NEVER had an Apple cable fail either power or data and that goes back to my Newton 2100 which is still working with original cables.
Plus add to that I work in a public library and we loan out cables and MacBook Airs and we've never had any cables fail. Plenty stolen but that's another story. 8-(
I've seen PLENTY of people treat their cables without a thought to protecting them from poor treatment. People that pull out the cable using the wire, retrieve their dropped phones and PCs buy reeling up on the cable.
There's no cables that can survive that and be cost effective in the quantities that Apple needs to produce. Sure a 3rd party cable maker can but their scale of production is minuscule compared to Apple's.
I am sure Apple could produce a more robust cable if they wanted to, but it would probably not lock slick enough.