Overall, I'm optimistic. The history of flying is haphazard. Airlines come and go, pilots move with the flow. The short term, based on history, people will still fly and many jobs will be around and because of many factors, most upgrade times are dramatically slowing again. The companies that charge enough to stay around will survive and grow. Others will fail. I wish you all the best in your aviation endeavors. I have been tremendously fortunate.

We are generally a happy family in the cockpit itself. Never met a group anywhere I did not like or enjoy being around. The challenge is that we are all on different points of the escalator trying to make a go of it as a career. Some like Skyhigh, hit some tough points and left. A wise move for him and his family. Others start anywhere to get a foot in the door and all hope to move along quickly to a better gig.
This is the every present challenge. We, like family, nitpick and raise cane with others who don't fit our ideal for the industry.
It is dissappointing that unions can't get along for a common purpose. ALPA can't get along with ALPA, (the most recent DAL/NWA issue). Independents can't get along with ALPA. (AMR and TWA). It is standard in the industry, maybe some day, regardlesss of airline or union, we would mentor the industry more effectively at the flight schools, universities and in the market.
If the professional unions and many of us individually, took a proactive aproach cooperatively, then we wouldn't rip the throats out of some person who wanders on to a forum like this and belittle them after they made some big decisions. We need to approach the industry as a profession that leads folks into the business. We need to influence those who desire to join to have a more uniform and informed understanding of the business. We need to make the entry conditions better. At present, we let industry management drive the market and entry conditions. A clear example is no union should ever allow pay for training in any contract, take the decisions away from a new person. Our collective response to date: Let each company management decide and WE deride anyone who does it as lowering the bar for the rest of us. Well, who was around to influence that decision? Yep, the old guys like me. What did I do to prevent Jonathan Ornstein from tossing that disaster at my fellow aviators? Nothing. Easy excuses, not my company, etc. Everyone flying professionally is responsible for mentoring the folks coming into the business. If you had a team of Legacy, Major, National,LCC, Cargo, Regional, Fractional, Charter, Part 135, CFI's & Corporate pilot leaders taking charge of our profession we would find the bar going back up, even in a difficult business world. I often disagree with Skyhigh's approach, but I respect him immensely for calling the limits and trying to inform others of the challenges and costs. Easy to blame others, but I'm part of the problem. Time to get myself and others to change our collective, professional approach....