Willie,
What you say is dead-on. I guess the question that keeps popping up in my mind is when do economically-driven circumstances reach the point where governments have to change their rules to make the economic situation work ?
After all, money is what makes the world spin, and if governments make rules, they can change them. Rules are just ink spots on paper. Things just haven't reached that point yet...if they ever will.
As for the PPC thing, I've seen very experienced guys come back from 5 years off the line, go to school and perform as if they'd done it all yesterday. Given enough experience, requal just isn't an real issue.