It would be a boring world if we all agreed on everything. I dont think we differ all that much in how we feel. But having been in this business once before, and having a very bad union experience I might add( essentially told by union big wigs to take the contract even though it sucked, and we had a 98% strike vote.... ), and having run my own business for the past few years I tend to look at these thing from both points of view. I would be the first to say that AMR's bonus to its managers while pilots are on furlough and took huge pay cuts is frankly deplorable.
Frankly the flying public doesnt care how highly trained we are. They want to fly from A to B as cheaply as possible. And they will fly whomever will get them there cheaply. There are exceptions but the LCC would not exist if this wasnt true. Its simply the WalMart mentality...they want more for less and could care less in general who provides the service as long as its cheap and gets them there fairly on time.
Not sure what if any non aviation background you have but I would say that office politics as you put it probably plays less into it than you would think especially at very large tech savy firms ( something I have some experience with ). Does it play a part sure, but ability and commitment and many other things contribute to promotion in the private sector. Certainly seniority based systems so away with that but they do have their problems as well although for the record I believe in seniority based systems, their downside being that if something happens and you leave a company or are forced to leave for many reasons...you end up starting at the bottom again NO MATTER how MUCH experience you bring to the table. To me thats a BIG problem that there is no good solution to thus its something we will live with.
I agree the paychecks have not kept up.... but that goes back to the thoughts above. The flying public is always looking for the better price...carriers match prices on routes, thus if carrier A is charging 40 less than carrier B... A will charge 40 less to match the fare.... it doesnt matter what type of carrier they are...in most cases the fare will be matched. Throw in the power of the internet for people to browse for pricing thus downward pressure on revenue, ...well you get the picture.
as for the big tycoons and investors.... and this wont be a popular statement...but companies exist to provide a service and produce a profit for the shareholders. Now certainly good employee relations should allow for good service thus ensuring rising profits but in many cases, companies will do what they have to do to keep the bottom line in the black and rising..failure to do so is the kiss of death for a management team in any business. Its a catch-22, and one which has actually led to the rise of the JET/NAtional carriers as we know them today.... the mainlines in an effort to control costs have looked to these carriers to provide service at costs they simply can not achieve. And to take this thought even further, again this is being driven by the flying public who not only wants a cheap fare, they also want more than one or two flights a day between destinations.....they want in many cases 5,6 or even more flights between a city pair everyday so that flying is convienent for them. 25 years ago if you wanted to fly from say MSY to PHL you might have had two choices of times to make the flights connect, hell now I can probably have my choice of non stops and one stops with probably 6-10 different departure times to choose from. So what is the result of that.... much of the off peak flying is filled in with the smaller jets and tprops to give the public what they want. Its a vicious cycle.
As for doctors and lawyers and pilots... you go to a doctor when you NEED him... he is no out seeking your business. Lawyers are the same way, YOU go to them when you need them, yea they advertise now, but really they are driven by the public needing them. ..Now pilots.....flying for the most part WE need them, the public figures that a pilot is a pilot is a pilot and the they will seek out the cheaper fare. I dont know many people who seek out the cheaper doctor....they want the best doctor and price be damned in most cases. Lawyers too.... they want the best and are willing to pay for it. People wont price out the cheapest MRI or heart surgery. PEOPLE will price out the cheapest airfares.... we might deserve it as you put it... but reality of economics are that our services are in demand but only at certain price points. People WILL stop flying if the price becomes prohibitive.... they will not stop going to the doctor or using a lawyer to sue people.
Always in good spirit my friend, always.