"There is no justification for saying Half Dome can handle 300-400 people per day, Mount Whitney 160 per day, Kearsarge Pass 60 per day, NF Lone Pine Creek 10 per day, and Baxter Pass only 8 per day."
I'll be kind and just say that this statement is naive, really, really naive. Actually, there's lots of justification for placing limits on use. Just because you don't understand or acknowledge those reasons does warrant removing them.
Thanks to Sean for injecting a much needed counterpoint to the "I want to climb it so I should be able to climb it" crowd. We're talking wilderness, not playgrounds, even if the attitude has been to treat them as such. Also, while I acknowledge that the Cables have been grandfathered into the Park's notion of what's permanent, removing them would not present a danger to others. Hikers simply could not climb that face without the cables and climbers topping out from other routes will have no problem getting down without them.