Yes, the price of caps probably is sort of in RP. But prices are there to be balanced, not really RP-able. Keep in mind while a lot of NPCs are flying ships in the hundreds of thousands cost range, everyone else is flying million dollar fighters with 15 mill worth of armour at the least. In any case, it's a game. I'm sure the corporations don't want to be stuck with Startrackers and Hawks for security, most corsairs wouldn't want legionnaires etcetra, so the point is moot.
The main concept I got from the thread though and what I agree with is this:
Caps were made hugely expensive to try and discourage misuse. Misuse remains a problem.
As a side effect, this price bump has also made caps unattainable to some number of good, capable players who can't play too much or just absolutely hate the trading/mining grind. Therefore, these players do not get caps when they would actually add to the number of good examples.
So, any solution has to address both problems. Free ships is probably a bad idea. But some sort of monetary incentive for good RP might help the situation on both fronts. Good players can get to a cap partially by trading and partially by writing RP, basically are rewarded for skilled play. Borderline players might see it as a reason to get more involved and better their RP. The really terrible players won't change no matter what until they decide they want to.