Sky - you know me as a person who has collected infraction over infraction from frequenting the "Leaving the Career" section of this forum.
This is the first time I have seen eye to eye with you and get to see that you represent more than being upset. I agree with you on too many of your above statements to list here. I also have no "earned right" to frequent the "Major" forum because I have never walked a mile or yard in a 121 Captains shoes and never ever will. I just grew up around the people who did and saw first hand how a profession has been turned into a trashcan.

MPL is not really the issue in my opinion. What kind of a joke it has developed into is the real issue and how we as pilots and the industry and employer of such pilots have accepted it to become a standard.

We have accepted minor skill and experience into the cockpit. The old school captains sat there like cattle, doing nothing about it. If I go to med school, can I perform brain surgery a week after I get out? If I go to law school, can I take on Phillip Morris a week after I get out? If I become a car mechanic at a local community college, can I go out and fix a Porsche?

Let me think.... ahhh, let me think some more.... No! Absolutely NOT!
The guy that fixes my Porsche has grey hair and I pay him dearly for 40 years experience... You have no right to touch it, I'd rather pay 150/ hour and have it done right, than 20/hour to have my doors fall off at 120MPH...
All it takes to earn the epaulets and the wings is 50.000 dollars, a loan or rich parents. Effort: 3 months. ZERO to HERO in 250 Hours, no Instruction involved. The airlines need a seat kept warm, so, here is a shot, youngster, and $20.000/ year should be fine, right? What? No? But we have to teach you how to fly now... well better take it, there is another guy with 7 hours more and he'll love the job. It's become a job, not a career.

From what I see when looking at new vs. old generation pilots is a terrible imbalance. Value and Price are no longer in check. A good brain surgeon t costs what? A Million a year? If I walked into the operating room tomorrow and said: "Let me try it, teach me as I go along" would they pay me that much too? Now flying a plane requires much less skill and talent than operating on a human beings brain. When we screw up, the gear is bent.
When a Doctor screws up, there is someone walking around drooling heavily for the rest of his/ her life. Doctors have done nothing but to look out that their profession does not go to the cheapest bidder. The hospitals can simply not take the risk to hire someone off the street.
Airlines do! The mob wants to travel cheap too!

We need to get motivation and integrity back into our own ranks. Then, and I'm afraid only then will things change. For us pilots, we could maybe start seeing this profession as a "Career" again, not as a "Job".
Chewing gum in a cockpit may be cool by H.S. standards, but it really isn't.
We have allowed high school kids into the cockpit of the most expensive airplanes carrying hundreds of people. Now, we are reaping the rewards.

Don't complain, change it.
If you notice you can't change it, get out and do something with your life.
(For heavens sakem, DO!!! A plumber apprentice makes more money!)
We need the gray haired captains and old school people to beat some common sense into the youngsters. But, they won't care. Sully makes 300K/ year either if he flies with Skiles (equal times and a lot more style than so many of his peers) or with John Doe, who had 50K and was admitted to a learning seat. Unless Sully cares and speaks up, nothing will happen. Our pilot community is as divided as our country. Being divided has brought our country into the gutter. Unite, keep the stupid unions away, and start to collect people in the field, willing to see your point and stand up for your cause. Pressure the airlines to provide you with quality pilots again, for the right seat. Don't fly, if they won't. Sounds stupid easy, but I bet money it would work. Pilots know what Pilots need. Make it happen.
Nobody else can or will or wants to fix it. Stand up for your peers and learn that you cant have the pot without putting a dime in yourself.

Rant off, and Mods don't send any more infractions, my PM box is full already.