MonarchOrBust
It's already been proven that there's a market for paying to fly at all levels. A while ago, Eaglejet were offering the chance to fly 500 hours as PIC on the 747 for something like $50k. The requirements for that "job" were pretty much the same as you'd expect for a standard DEC position (significant wide body command time required). They wouldn't have been advertising it if there wasn't a market for it.
Regardless of the salaries on offer, starry-eyed kids will still be lining up to fork over mortgage-sized sums for training, so that they can post pictures on Instagram and Facebook, resplendent in their two stripes and aviators. Flying is highly vocational; people will want to do it regardless of earning potential. People will take on second or third jobs just so that they can fly. It's a minor miracle that salaries have remained as high as they have for as long as they have. Any de-skilled job with an incredibly low academic bar to entry is obviously not going to attract a high salary. That is the cold reality of the situation.
The only way the slide could have been arrested is through strong and aggressive unionisation. You just have to look at the salaries and benefits enjoyed by train/ tube drivers to see the power of 100% union membership and the willingness to go on strike to curb management excesses.