Ollie Onion summed it best: The pie is now bigger, but the slices are smaller. Is that a bad thing?
Depends on perspective. Remember you might have been that guy earning 500k a year now like old mate on the QF A330 apparently (I've never met one though, only heard of people who know people who have), or you might have statistically never got an airline gig full stop.
Now i earn a lot less than a 500k salary a year, but I rarely fly at night, and rarely work more than 40hrs in a 28 day period, and don't take on any additional responsibilities. I am happy.
Have a contributed to a race to the bottom? I don't think its an apples and apples comparison anymore as the industry has changed in the last 40 years.
Infact, the entrie casualisation of the workplace means many of my non flying professional peers are either contracting, or employed on a tempory basis no matter the industry/job.
Moral of the story:
Things are changing, some for the better and others the worse. A headline grabbing salary doesn't tell the whole story however, and suggesting someone earning less than 4 or 500k is contributing to race to the bottom is ignorant at best, particularly as not all 'airline pilot' jobs are created the same as they may have been in the old days of the small pie.