Why does everyone ask this? Many pilots think they're at the top of the totem pole and are the catalyst that makes this industry run.

We aren't. We are labor. Management is in control. Airline A doesn't want to play ball (Envoy), Airline B and C do (PSA, Piedmont), they get the flying. Big new shiny jets get announced, a flood of applicants ensue. New and old pilots follow the planes. Pretty simple. As current regional pilots go to mainline, mainline awards bigger jets to regionals as they park the less efficient 50 seaters (number of planes a net loss at the regionals). That's how they're controlling pilot supply.