It objectively doesn't make your program run better to waste RAM.
If RAM usage goes up 2x every two years but RAM and hard drive speed go up 20% in the same time period, then using more RAM when you don't need it is making programs more sluggish to start and to suspend to disk, and it's making computers draw more power while sleeping (to keep that much RAM alive -- the D in DRAM means every bit in the RAM needs to be refreshed continuously).
From what I've read, an SSD has an expected life of about 1-2 years. Aside from not being able to afford $2500 JUST for an SSD to hold my data [1], I can't fathom paying that much every 1-2 years as the drives die. Not to mention downtime and potential lost data (between the back-up and the failure).
I'd love to have an SSD. In a year or two, I probably will, as the costs will likely drop.
But until then, yes, the performance has objectively dropped.
[1] http://www.amazon.com/OCZ-Technology-2-5-Inch-Performance-OC...