How is it a silly comparison? You can't buy the 280X, 290 and 290X at MSRP right now in the states without extreme luck. Most 290X reference cards are 630$ right now. 290? 520$. All prices are inflated well past the MSRP to the point that NV cards are the better value right now. For the most part, if you're buying hardware in the states, you're using Newegg or Amazon. B+M retailers except for 2-3 don't sell super high end GPUs. MC does. Best buy does not. Most people in the states buying hardware, will buy from an etailer and etailers all have inflated prices unless you get REALLY lucky. Therefore it's a fair comparison. The prices are wack thanks to miners.
I don't see why it bothers you so much, but that's the situation right now in the US. All thanks to miners who (mostly) aren't playing PC games, they've skewed the actual gaming market. Maybe the situation will auto correct by the time these aftermarket cards arrive in January, but that is how things are right now.