I expect to be able to buy a little better than a 200HR wanna-be pilot
Where on earth do you gain that seemingly utter contempt for other people's skills? Considering your profile, it would appear that you have not seen such 200hr qualified, selected and fully-trained pilots in a legal, insurance accepted and over half-century proven passenger operation, going from 4 to 3 to 2-crew aircraft.
Rather than giving an objective comment, your comment:
there are many other, better qualified people on the market who deserve to be in the RHS of an airliner
is perhaps more of a chip on the shoulder comment than one which you are objectively placed to answer?
CPL/IR and ATPL groundschool may not mean all are suitable to take on the challenge of the modern airliner operation immediately, but for those who are able to do so I think a little more credit is due. Furthermore it is not a communist state with a strict hierachy - accept that some are able to make it due to luck.
Furthermore the peer oversight and other rigorous means of ensuring an surgeon's continuing competence - though not comprable to 6 monthly sim checks - hardly amount to the non-stringent environment portrayed on the last page! On the contrary considering that the results endure somewhat longer than each sector, the pressure could be considered greater...