If I remember correctly (absolutely NO warrantee on that) the original idea was that the hangar contents needed to be settled by Beta. I would highly doubt that to be the case anymore; while the current business model is not infinitely sustainable, it's doing quite well for the company at the moment. Some variant of it could carry on into live without bothering me at all. By the time the game gets to the 'no more wipes' point, there will be so many people with better than a starter package that it simply won't matter if they continue selling ships for cash. Unless you got friends, an org, and knowledge of how to use the ship, it doesn't matter what you buy it'll end up feeding a Reclaimer.
As Glorious Leader pointed out, there are maybe 3 or 4 ships that get used regularly, and for me two of those are are the 315p and Titan. Not exactly deep pockets required... the two are phenomenally useful in game, especially in Evo/PTU patches that get wiped every day. The C8R may take on some of those duties tho; sweet little ship in a 'high bug' environment.
The other two are the Sentinel and the 400i, for what they are good at, and occasionally the Carrack comes out for testing something.
To your original point
@Freak0 I've never considered anything beyond having it all spent, so don't have an opinion on your idea. The credit I have has decidedly migrated into larger/fewer, and will otherwise remain as credit until forced/convinced to use it on something.