Glad someone cleared up the "we're not doctors" thing. There was however, a time when pilots were being paid more than doctors. But that, wasn't yesterday, it was quite a while ago. And air travel, was quite different then, than it is now. At a time, aviation was such a new technology, that people marveled at it. The only people who'd experienced it were soldiers (trained to fly) or who'd been flown over, and individuals at traveling air shows. Commercial aviation was setup for the super elite, and gradually evolved into transportation for the masses as it is today. And now, you can get across the country for less than a couple hundred bucks (might not get back with that fare, but at least you got there).

I'm sure there are plenty of factors to consider that have lowered the pay of airline pilots over the years. Whether it's technology's ability to make airline travel much safer than it was sixty years ago. Economic recessions, rising fuel costs, weak labor unions, etc. All i know, is that we don't get paid enough money for the job we do. If a person can sit there and say "retire so i can take your job" then that individual probably lacks the knowledge and background to even discuss the subject.