Left Wing
You ask, "would an airline rather pay top dollar to an xpat pilot for 1 yr or have a great cadet program that makes every one happy".
Well, until they are big enough to be able to afford themselves the luxury of a cadet pilot programme most start-ups will go for the experienced pilot. No airline that I can think of has ever been grounded by a lack of cadet pilots whereas some have for a lack of experienced crew.
Cadet pilot programmes are long term ventures and airlines can only launch into them when they are fully up and running and stabilised.