Not only is your assumption about my years in professional aviation baseless, it is completely wrong. But it is now easy to see how you come to your delusion on the state of pilot staffing. My experience all comes out to about fifteen years of flying. It really isn't that bad.
As to the endless lines at the door the reality is that there are not many people in that line that you want to work with. The hours don't get you anywhere close to a golden ticket. Point of fact, they don't actually amount to much of anything. It is truly more personality in most cases.
As to the issue of money... Yes, pilots from top to bottom are underpaid. No argument there. However, the industry as a whole is still (in my opinion) working out deregulation. The big fat illogical business plans of a regulated system were never really reworked. These were finally coming to a head in the years before 9/11. 9/11 then turned into an excuse and a scapegoat for an already faltering industry. The legacy airlines were bailed out and propped up. Perhaps there was enough change in the business plan and mismanagement to reorganize in to something survivable. (Somewhat doubtful...) All that said, pilots have suffered dearly as a result and the pay is not where it should be. However, even the lousy five year captain pay is not that bad. There are plenty of pay scales on this website if you care to check it out.
My student loans are not so large as to be out of line with anyone else with an advanced degree. Nor is the time spent paying dues. Admittedly, I could have done the MBA thing and made more money right out of school. However, I wasn't interested in doing something that I didn't really want to do and took the chance, for better or worse, to fly. I had watched my dad pine from the right seat of our Piper about not becoming an airline pilot, he is a chemical engineer. He makes a bit more than me, but not so very much. I think it helped that I didn't have any romantic notions about making a quarter million dollars a year and working 15 days a month. (Anyway, those days might be gone as they were part of a bloated regulated industry.) I worked out most of those misconceptions by watching my dad struggle with his ideas of what an airline pilot was.
The result is that people like yourself, and to no fault, chose to do other things with their life. I did alright with some financial choices and I guess have the luxury of a job that is somewhat juvenile and doesn't pay well.
As to quality of life... My wife and I enjoy the weekend trips together. I bid weekends by choice so that I am home while she is working and we have the weekends to travel. She makes a lot more money than me, but it doesn't hurt my ego to spend it. We don't have kids, which I have to admit would be difficult with our schedules. But, that's not just my schedule. Most couples have to make some difficult decisions, both financial and time wise, when they both work. I can trip trade or drop most any time that I want off, so that is rarely if ever an issue.
True to your impression this is not always the case during the first couple of years while you are paying your dues, commuting to sit reserve is anything but ideal. A great many flight school kids leave during their first couple of years because their conception of the job doesn't fit with the reality of the work and lifestyle. I venture to say, and it has been pointed out here, that this is the case with a lot of college grads that have never worked more than a summer job and had mom and dad writing checks for them.
I'm watching the pilot shortage happen, so it is really hard to understand why someone outside of the industry would have the authority to say that it isn't. Rest assured that HR is very concerned. They are talking about having to raise pay, offer signing bonuses, and are working on schemes to pay student loans to retain pilots long enough to get them to captain planes before moving on. People are actually losing their jobs around here due to the lack of staffing. Sounds crazy from what we have seen over the last many years, but it is happening. We might not see pay increases immediately as ALPA contracts were written during a period were pilots were taking concessions to keep their companies in business. But, in time the wages will come in line with the demand, more as a lagging indicator.
It will be interesting to see what will happen with wages in the regionals as many of the majors have positioned themselves with several regional carriers. This allows them to play one regional against the other and drives down wages during labor negotiations. A wise thing to do, from the majors perspective, if you saw a pilot shortage on the horizon.