The money isnt there anymore.....
What has happened to the Regional business is that the cost gap has closed. In the last 9 years, fuel cost, maintenance cost, and the cost of a maturing pilot group has raised the cost of operating the feeds. That cost difference...between Legacy and Regional used to be the money that was available to pay for Regional airline management (buildings, salaries, insurance, etc,). and leave a little bit left over for the shareholders. Now, with that gap closed, it becomes a question of "Why pay for all of the duplicity?". Legacy carriers already have scheduling, maintenance, HR, insurance, training departments. It really looks to me like time has come for those to go...
The up side of this for the pilots is that there aren't enough. The airplanes still have to move, but the don't have to say "operated by" on the sides...