Tubbs,
This is no different from the non-aviation sector. Your 30K+ earners in media and other such areas have often made their start by internships where they practically pay, all after having to pay for a 3-5 year university course.
This isn't new, centuries old in fact: prove yourself to your employer and you will be rewarded with a position. In such a competitive market can you expect anything else? If there is such a demand for positions and so many perfectly capable pilots out there, it's it quite right that wages should lower? To enforce otherwise is wage fixing and protectionism.
If anything, this could increase the calibre of pilot that lands an airline job, cutting out those that aren't really interested or only doing it for the cash.
Maybe the devils advocate, but I'd like to hear the counter-argument.