If I was a conspiracy theorist odyssey, I'd probably agree with some of the things you say. But whilst applying our food for thought we should always attempt to have a reasonable grasp of reality.
Here's the way it is. If prior to the Cadets obtaining a seniority number, Boss man decides to retrench established pilots off the bottom (as he is compelled to do), he will be equally compelled to re-employ those retrenched pilots prior to awarding any more seniority numbers, Cadets included. That's the EBA, that's the law.
Good point regarding REX not re-establishing the cut services. See the last sentence of this post!
As far as the Cadets without any previous flying experience obtaining the min 100 hours "real" command, it has been identified previously that this is but one of the hurdles they need to overcome. If by chance they manage to simply extend their training by 30 odd hours, then good luck to them. Somehow I think the been counters at Baxter Rd may have something to say in that regard. If you are hearing stacks of REX training callsigns, then good, but most thing come at a price! I believe that someone has mentioned something along the lines of an additional $4,000 for the difference!
We'll see how they go in around 5 years. Because that's the time frame required to amass the min 2,000 hours total under the AOC. Then there's the 500 multi command under the IFR?
If they last till then, jump through all the hoops, sail under the star of a benevolent regulator, survive their Training and Checks, then Hell, I'll be happy to let my family fly with them. My point has always been, the Cadet program does nothing to solve REX's chronic shortage of Captains and "upgradeble" F/O's. That's where the real problem lies.