Although one might find an old used Mackie 24x8 on Flea-bay for $1,100 occassionaly, the new price is between $2,500 and 3,500, depending on where you shop. Meter bridge about an additional $700. so it's not $45 per channel, as you've posted. More like $100-125 per channel.
No, a Mackie 8 bus isn't for everyone, and if I had a pro studio I'd have something larger, but for my HOME STUDIO, it's great, not too big, not too small, and does everything I need it to do. I don't need a large board to sucker, oops I mean impress clients.
As far as mixing goes, lately, I'm doing everything ITB with Audition 2.0, and that's working out great for me.