Obviously almost in all cases it's better to buy bitcoins directly than mining equipment. People buy miners because they can't do basic maths. Are you among them? 
Really? Basically you're saying that miners made a bad choice for investing in mining.Your logic is beyond me. I've been mining for 2 months with rig C, kept all the coins it has generated. I've done the math and buying bitcoin back then (with the amount of money that I spend for the rig), would have earned me much less. While bitcoin is on the road for a tenfold increase, some coins have had much more than that.
*points at MEC, initial blocks of 500*
Can't do basic math, pf.