Actually, there are many many shows in Japan that are also made for money only. Besides typically shounen-like shows and things like KonoMini which, people theorize was a complete Mahoromatic ripoff created just as a cashcow for Gainax to work on other projects, you also should see the kinds of prices they give their DVDs. Limited edition ones can cost up to 85US$, and normal ones maybe 50US$ish... for 2 episodes...
Budget and lifestyle is just as important there, I believe. How many times has budget been completely skimped on or thrown to cheaper but generally lower-quality Chinese/Korean studios? While I would accept that some anime has an artistic quality and there are certainly shows where a lot of thought, effort, good ideas and a sincere want to make it look good are put in, .... Not all anime are like that. A lot of the time it's for the most basic purpose of anime: entertainment.
Many more anime than you think actually have to base their sales on a rather small viewerbase - typically people who stay up late to watch anime (A LOT of it is broadcasted at crazy times like 1:00 am, on small channels), are maniacs in collecting all sorts of things about that anime, and have certain traits which, I think I would be safe in assuming, imply that these people are otaku.
If this is your only viewerbase, you're quite at the mercy of their demands sometimes if you want to please them and therefore ensure sales are met. This might explain why you have very popular type of genre done again and again (Case in point: two recent anime, Kenran Butou Sai and Soukyuu no Fafner, are really.... quite unoriginal. Very much so. But they have many fans...), and things like fanservice... moe~ characters, et.c
So... if you consider the target population in Japan in mind, isn't it kind of difficult marketing it in America? In Japan I get the impression, and thus imply that they are so bound to what has always been that they don't try to market to the general population unless it's got a popular aspect to it.
In America though,... I don't blame the companies for wanting to make money. Blame them of greediness, but don't forget that there are living humans working behind a seemingly faceless mask of "evil licensing thingy that puts out terrible overpriced dvds". They ALSO have a life and they need money.
I suppose the only way for these companies to make money is to market it to a larger population than just "otaku". The only way to attact a larger population is thus to "localize" it and so on... I somehow don't think many companies are willing to market it as it is; I don't think many ordinary people are comfortable with anime as it is either. It can't be helped and it takes a lot of long term committed effort to change that mindset...
Also... I don't think many American companies have enough money to hire good voice talent for the shows. Remember they need to pay all these people, and if they need to get better talent, they either need to pay more (and thus increase dvd prices which I think, might step into an unaffordable range if increased much higher) or they have to have enough clout and be able to attract the right people.
Dubs can be done properly when you have people who are skilled and good in localizing the thing, and the money (Seen Princess Mononoke? Many have hailed its dub as excellent, and guess who voices them, known actors like Gillian Anderson, Jada Pinkett-Smith, Minnie Driver...), - and the passion.
I do get the impression that some people who do the DVDs have little passion to do it as best as possible, and many people do notice that good fansubs, done by people who are dedicated, willing and very passionate about the anime, can be miles better than commercial DVDs.
Perhaps this can be changed soon, if more of these passionate people join the ranks of the anime DVD industry. Perhaps we can see higher quality DVDs...
(By the way, if you want to speak about evil companies, I maintain 4Kids holds that title... or maybe DiC... but hey, they make the money. That, unfortunately, is what really matters in the world. Can't really change that.)
(I have no idea what or why I've been asying the 2nd half of this post... but I'm pretty sure about the Japanese target viewership part.)