My god, in what world are you living??? First, regional airlines don't live in a vacuum. Supply/demand dictates that if someone can make around or near $300k now as a widebody Captain at a major, there had better be at least some sort of carrot at a regional to keep a few experienced people around. If one can go to China and make $150k+ from day one there had better be some incentive to keep people from jumping ship. There is a good deal of competition for qualified pilots finally. If the regionals don't offer an incentive to stay, people won't stay. They do need to retain *some* of their senior Captains, and a reasonable left seat payscale may make, say, a 50yr old Captain who was a career changer (i.e., not a "failed" pilot) think about sticking around, and this is not a bad thing for the airline. Airlines need experienced pilots to retain any sort of culture of safety and professionalism, both of which are required in the 121 environment.

Second, most regionals are flying a great deal of 70+ seat aircraft along with the 50 seaters. Same airspace, same passengers, and same ballpark number of seats as plenty of smaller legacy aircraft from a few years back. The piece of the pie is not, as you say, excessive. The problem is the pie is too small by far. No easy fix, but a few overwhelming No votes recently are a good first step. But perhaps you would not know about voting No and seeking pay and QOL improvements.

For you to get started on some rant about failed pilots and excessive regional left seat pay marks you as either troll or management.