Stupid? It's restricting supply. Demand is going up and supply is going down. That raises wages. It's hitting the regionals hard right now and they are trying to combat the possibility of raising wages by lowering their demand for pilots by trading 50 seaters for 76 seaters. That is just a band aid in the next few years when the retirements are at flood stage the regionals will have a major staffing problem. You can get someone with 500 hrs to work for nothing but someone isn't going to invest the time or money to get 1500 hrs and make nothing. Wages at the regionals with have to go way up. They may have to go up to the point where outsourcing doesn't make any sense.

The 1500 hr rule is about as far from stupid as you can get. Do I want my family in the back of a plane with a guy that has 500hrs in the right seat and 1500 in the left? No!

It's absolutely amazing the complete disconnect the top of some mainline seniority lists has.