Blacksheep: I don't know about the CAA over there, but our head people at the DOT and FAA etc are always White House appointees, and usually consist of lawyers and/or career politicians. One guy at the FAA had been a Thunderbird pilot but he was just another personal ticket-puncher.
What the FAA might not be taking into account when they perform their 'cost/benefit' analyses is the ever-growing trend to outsource any and all major aircraft maintenance.
JetBlue sends many, if not most of their A-320s each year to El Salvador for C or D checks. Even in the US, also according to the same article in either "the New York Times" or "the Wall Street Journal", as a minimum, only the maintenance supervisor is required to have an FAA license! Even before our oldest fleet was equipped with the RVSM alimeters etc, many of our planes returned from a place (not too far north of the very white sand) and were grounded for a while. They almost lost their license to do the work, until a company Maint. Crew Chief was based down there (this he told us upon arrival from ATL).
Is any of this already the case with European airlines? About the only US major to perform most of the technical work in-house is American Airlines, and they have never yet filed for Chapter 11. Well-done American!