I am afraid I have to disagree with several points already made.
1.Contract dog said, 'Well put TD, if you pay that amount of cash, you would expect to come out of it a better pilot?'
Not sure a 'better' pilot. One should have already been trained to a standard, ie. that of a CPL/IR/ME. I would expect the person to come out with a new skill, perhaps turbine knowledge, higher altitude flying and another rung up the ladder of experience. But if you were a crap pilot at PPL, at CPL too, then why should buying 200 hours make you a good pilot.
2.Birdlady said, 'Im not by any means tarring everyone with the same brush, but to me a lot of these "fastrackers" seem to be lacking in the "passion for aviation" department. '
I am not condoning buying ratings, but one has to address the reason why someone parts with such vast amounts of money. Imagine you have paid 40-50 k on your training and you are getting no where, well, the thought of another investment to get you that first job could be a worth while investment.
I have not done it and will not, but I think it unfair to say it shows a lack of passion, because in reality, if most people could afford to do it they would have, so would you also question their passion too?
Finally, I find the people with this passion you talk about the worst pilots of all, the ones who cant do anything other than talk about planes, who have no other real interests and are extremely ambitious. I find these folk very one dimensional.
In my personal experiences, the ladies and gentlemen who have had a life outside of aviation first, ie. a different job /career before flying are the ones capable of making the best decisions and make for more rounded people and therefore pilots.