I never said I love everything about the EU, but just because the EU did something bad that doesn't mean it's OK for the new trilogy to do something else that's bad. But a lightsaber whip is just shaped plasma in exactly the same way as a regular lightsaber, so it's just a new take on the same technology. I'm just questioning Kylo Ren's sanity if he willingly uses a weapon that has a chance to blow up every time he turns it on. Especially if he can pull a Neo and stop blaster bolts in mid-air: that just means he doesn't even need a lightsaber and his only reason for using it is to look badass. A task at which he fails, by the way.
You're right: money has never been explained in Star Wars, and a lot of things really shouldn't have been possible if you look at them purely from a financial point of view, but once again that doesn't mean that it's OK for the new trilogy to do the same thing. But money was only one of my concerns about Starkiller base. Its size completely dwarfs both Death Stars put together, so logically it would take at least as long to build as both of them. I'm assuming it moves, because otherwise it would be a fairly pointless superweapon, which means it would require as much engine power as every ship that existed, both on- and off-screen, during the OT and prequel time periods, and a similar amount of thrust facing forwards so it can stop without ramming into other planets in its path. Also, it seems completely pointless: the reason the Death Stars failed wasn't a question of size. They already had the power to destroy planets with a single shot. The reason they failed was because they both had a completely straight tube leading from the reactor out into space. If the first Death Star's exhaust tube had had even just one kink in it, Luke's torpedoes would have hit the side of the tube and never would have made it to the reactor.
