I brought up the other thread because I wanted to show that just as your message was not to listen to "one person's opinion", you have now become that same opinion of disapproval in this thread.
While you have your opinion that one should not pay (money) for one's own rating, I disagree.
My POV is that if given a choice between exchanging a fixed sum of money for a rating as opposed to serving out a bond in exchange for same, I'd take the cash option anyday. We have different ways of assessing the "value" of a rating, and that's fine. To me, the mischief or misery that comes from parting with a sum of money (in return for a rating) is predictable and definite, but the mischief or misery that comes from serving out a time-based agreement can be unlimited simply because we know not what tomorrow brings (as 911 and SARS etc has shown). This is probably why your mortgage is based on a sum of money to be repaid rather than a bond to be served out by working for the bank for x years.
You agree that "you have to pay a certain amount to get a commercial multi certificate but it should stop there", in other words, it's not the principle of paying your own way that you are against, but the degree / extent to which you should pay. I think it's OK to pay some more for the rating, but you don't think so. Fair enough then.
The answer to Truthmaster's question: "If i'm prepared to pay for a type rating whats the chances of getting a job?" perhaps is "we don't really know, it depends, short answer - maybe not a whole lot".
Truthmaster is not "offering to pay for a job". He is asking what his chances are if he takes this gamble - there is not yet a job offer on the table which is conditional upon getting his own rating. So if the job is not there, logically he cannot offer to pay for something that does not exist.
I also cannot see how paying money for my own rating can "demean" myself as a professional and/or "hurt" my fellow pilots "trying to make a living in this business". It's just a business gamble that I take. If I end up collecting ratings, then so be it, that's my problem.