Fuji,
I take your points and see where you are coming from, but I don't think it is ratings that save people, it is airmanship and attitude (planning). Or rather the lack of airmanship/planning that gets people into trouble.
Yes if you have "good airmanship" and have an IMCR, you will be better equiped than you were before you did the course. But just having the IMCR doesn't necessarily make a bad VMC pilot any safer. In fact I agree with Airbus Girl in that it could have a detrimental effect.
Of course there are the truely unforseen circumstances which cause true accidents (ie acts of God), but a very few accidents are caused in such a way and most are down to the organic matter in the front or the organic matter holding the spanner. The 777 double flame out and your micro burst were maybe not predictable, but in both cases there was a happy out come because you/they knew what was happening, knew a likely solution and managed to implement it. So in a way you/they had "planned" for it.
So when I say planning, I mean it in the wider sense of the word rather than the specific drawing of lines and checking of TAFs. It also continues throughout the flight ie thinking that little bit ahead and seeing what is likely to be happening next and what plan b might be if you don't like what you see.
Do people really not plan for the engine to stop? I would have thought that it was constantly in the back of the mind when flying SE (and sometimes flying ME too!)