Hi rajNY:

well I am almost in the same position. You are right in everything you say and think. I am thinking a lot what to do next year, as my status is valid until 02/15.
I have been SEN from 1999 and no recognition from LH.
Just to tell you LH already said clearly they do not want so many SEN and HON. That is why they are downgrading the programme all the time.
If I look back a lot of airlines are doing the same and if I compare prices and quality there LH is at the far end.
I fly mainly in Y or Z but to retain status you must do at least 5 long haul business flights. And at the end is not worth it.
You wanna burn the miles and never get availability
You wanna upgrade and no space available
You wanna burn miles for free ticket and pay 600 eur on taxes
You wanna have a nice coffee and a decent meal and nowhere to sit in lounges....
So, no point of retaining status.
If you fly Business, you get lounge and premium service anyway!!!!

If you compare M&M with other programmes than you can see QR, SQ and other only give you 125-150% of miles flying Business and 200% flying First.
I already checked last year QR but you need to fly in unrestricted business class 3 tickets to be able to get GOLD. So at the end you can only fly QR and to DOH which is boring....
QR is promoting itself now, but when they get a lot of members they, for sure, will downgrade the programme, as LH did it a lot of times.
I remember when QR started to fly new routes they had very cheap C class fares (1400 eur) ZRH DOH SYD return, but now is more expensive than LX or LH or even SQ!!!
Things are changing very fast, so who knows....maybe next year nobody will want FF or in a few years airlines will give you free status if you wanna fly with them.

My advice...wait and see. In the mean time buy yourself the best C class ticket on the best product you can get. And you do not need any card.