Sadly, we in the U.S. don't get it. We keep reducing ourselves to the lowest common demoninator. The European carriers are mostly long haul and have established themselves as premier service providers that people are willing to pay top dollar for. The US carriers have cut to the bone in order to survive and have minimal infrastructure to handle the flying. Couple that with pilots who are willing to fly at JB, Skybus and Virgin America for $65-80K a year as a Captain is hurting everyone. In order to compete, everyone has to come down. This has been beaten to death over the past few years but it is our reality. The freight carriers who have a high barrier of entry don't have the competition so they are insulated from this. If we were smart, Alpa would establish apprenticeships in college and flight schools. We would educate pilots on the importance of not selling ourselves short just to take any job. Because the job we take to try to get to our dream jobs may indeed replace the dream job as they disappear.