OK, I'll bite on this one. My advice for the guys who are sitting around waiting for hiring to begin again is this: go to the regional (or Part 91 job, or whatever) that has a culture in which you would be happy if it wound up being the last place you ever go. You cannot assume that you will make a lot of money over your career; you can't assume that you will get an upgrade at a given time; you can't assume that you will hold a line; you can't assume that the job you get will exist in two years. All of these things are largely subject to factors so beyond your control that they do not merit your attention. NOBODY has these answers for you.
What you CAN do is set yourself up to enjoy your time in whatever seat you attain. The odds that you will be a low-paid reservist for years in a hiring freeze are equal nearly everywhere; what seems to vary most from place to place is the overall attitude of the pilots working there toward their job. Find the place(s) that correspond to the culture in which you will be happy, and interview there at the first opportunity. Look for people who are proud of their company, and ask them about why that is. You will narrow the field quickly if you do this.
For what it's worth, I chose XJT in 2006, and although luck (Fate) has undoubtedly had a great deal to do with my high level of job satisfaction, I chose this place because the people working here seemed genuinely satisfied with things as they actually were, not as they were going to be. So far, that choice is proving to have been a good one.