google adwords rip-off

i just checked the google adword campaigns of a couple of customers and myself and got this warm welcome message:

We have simplified our keyword status system.

Your keywords will now either be active (triggering ads) or inactive (not triggering ads). Quality remains the most important factor in your keywords’ performance. Each keyword will now have a minimum bid that is based on the quality of your keyword and ad text. If your maximum CPC does not meet this minimum bid, your keyword will be listed as inactive.

If a keyword is listed as inactive, improve its quality through optimisation, delete it, or raise that keyword’s maximum CPC to the minimum bid indicated. (Raising the bid will re-activate the keyword.) If your keyword is active, you do not need to do anything.

what the hell? i thought they would earn enough money with their adwords program not to rip off their customers like that. i was a google adwords fan before, because of their fair paying system and recommended it to many of our customers, but now … i have to increase the cpc to 17 euro cent for my own real name as keyword for our company ad? for another team member i have to increase it to 9 euro cent per click?

what is their calculation base, who is deciding this? definitely not me anymore – this is not the way how to treat good customers …

addition (August 26. 2005): i just read this article about google “darth vader of the internet” via the handelsblatt blog, werbeblogger and gerold braun and that fits to my current opinion and blogpost.