put simply, the lifestyle and investment to get there is not worth 80K/yr when amortized for time taken to get there and periods of unemployment. 200K/yr, of course, 120K/yr maybe...80K and below? forget it.
Alas, most people in it consider a 50K/yr proposition a worthy opportunity cost. They are the price setters, you can't single handedly change that dynamic.
As to the regionals, even if I had no reservation about them I couldnt afford to work for that little. Time is our most precious commodity. It's not even about the money. I simply have no time to waste on that fickle one trick pony of a 'career'. Flying is characterized by becoming carbon copies of your coworkers. There's simply no way to differentiate your product from another pilot. As long as the ILS is not crappy enough to kill anybody, your center-center ILS won't get you extra cookies.
That and a lack of lateral career options and income retainability are killers to the pilot pool as a labor force. Further combine that with a cultural notion that flying is 'neat-o' as an activity with which to spend your 9-5, and you have no vocational leverage. Most pilots are also sorely pigeonholed as a labor force in terms of ability to market themselves outside of aviation. They're literally like Ricky Bobby in Talladega Nights: "what..do..i...do...with..my.hands...".
To each their own of course. Time with family and time to self-actualize, that's all that matters to me. I seriously doubt 121 compensation is coming back to what it was. The gig is over. Its another bus driver job now. People can still be professional doing it, no doubt, but it's a get paid with smiles job now, meh. If I have to wait 'til my dying bed to get my dream job in terms of QOL and compensation, it's NOT a dream job! Kudos to those who find the trade of QOL, compensation, retirement [or lack thereof], and non-economic valuations suitable to their lives. I truly believe it's not for everybody. Do what makes you happy and change to re-attain it when it no longer fulfills you.
Good luck to you.