I can explain it by the fact that he was financing The Empire Strikes Back with his own money and the fact that Kurtz was going way over budget. Empire had more riding on it than just continuing the story. He wanted to make a great film first, but he had plans for the profit that Empire was to generate. He is an artist but he's a businessman. And for me, he never sacrificed one for the other. From where I stand, he's done a perfect balance when it comes to the Star Wars brand.
"the films are very efficiently and cheapl made, amazingly so, but the quality is kind of "meh," because theres no one there to give the artistic side the same amount of emphasis--and no one talented enough, for that matter. "
OPINION....
"Thus, he is equally concerned with efficiency, cost-savings and getting stuff "good enough," as opposed to "good," which was the reason for the split between Kershner and Lucas and between Kurtz and Lucas."
Aren't all filmmakers concerned with being effecient and saving costs, while trying to maintain one's vision"? It seems when it comes to Lucas, he can't be in that category. He's in the "he's too cheap to make his films better" eventhough there are maybe a few filmmakers on the planet right now who's films look just as good as Lucas'. Say what you will about him, but there are only a handful of filmmakers right now that can make Lucas' visual eye. The rest don't even come close. And it's very apparent in the Prequels and the Originals....
"Furthermore, the lack of any original creations by Lucas since the 80's leads me to believe he is currently a hack, and not an artist."
And this is a stupid statement. Just because you haven't seen much from him doesn't make him a hack. We have no idea what Lucas does on the Ranch. I've read online from a source that has been very close to Lucasfilm and the folks there (during the Prequels and beyond) that Lucas has indeed shot a documentary and another feature film (all on digital of course) and just refuses to release them. Others inside the company and friends want him to release them but he refuses. You can blow off this statement if you want but from whom I heard it from and this person's track record during the spoiler years of the Prequels, I have no reason to doubt this person's claims.