Richard;
As a frequent, and nervous, passenger here within the U.S. this does not sit well with me at all. I always ASSumed that safety was, and remains, priority Nummer Eins for the industry.
These are observations people in the industry are making about the very large, long-term forces at work in the US economy primarily but elsewhere too. One can make unmitigated drives for high ROIs, returns on investment, in, say, furniture-making companies or a thousand other examples of good businesses but there where there is a conflict between high risk and reward, that enterprise requires mitigation and governance either through responsible and aware management, or regulatory enforcement. I much prefer the former, having lived under the latter and seen it not do the job. That said, the former is not doing the job either and we know why.
Take a look at Captain Sullenberger's presentation to Congress to understand the comments being made here. These are not "lobbying" positions being stated here. These are "how it is" statements which require not a political response from elected officials, but a responsible addressing by the industry and
by it's passengers alike. For that to occur effectively, it must be clearly understood that this isn't about "punishing" those who stray from responsibility and who, "by ommission" may have played a part. Such an approach would never work because it does not target the sources of the original problem.
It cannot be emphasized strongly enough, that while the peculiar political economy in which we all live has engendered these circumstances for all business and not just airlines, no other enterprise carries the strongly polarized "risk-reward" equations as does commercial aviation. That requires special addressing and while "making a profit" cannot be legislated into existence or into the board room, it can facilitate those circumstances which require performance metrics now in the process of being lost and otherwise degraded.
It must be understood that pilots, unlike any management ever, are, because they cannot change employers readily, (I can discuss why, if you wish), are married to their employer and to their position at one airline. They therefore are subject to the demands and whims of very high-pressure negotiations and, ultimately, to the force of Chapter 11 or, in Canada, CCAA, in which management will achieve it's financial ends. While this works most of the time, the outcomes of such forces has essentially destroyed the career, and the profession of "airline pilot" to the point where, with always some exceptions, good people no longer come because they know how they'll be treated. In a business where mistakes can kill you and a lot of other people, this approach is proving unacceptable. How unacceptable is, as it is with other industries where those who know the most are ignored in favour of public perceptions, up to others to question and obtain answers. We cannot.
You must understand that these are very long-term trends being discussed. There is a problem in perceiving these issues as "causal" in the Cartesian sense of the word, (like mechanical linkages). These processes are "stochastic", in the sense that they are random but with a preferred, (meaning likely, not 'desired'!), outcome. The industry remains the safest way to travel and aircrews remain highly dedicated. The argument here is not whether it is safe to get on an airplane today or not and it is a fundamental mistake to "connect the dots" in this way. This is a dialogue where long-term trends are being perceived.
Richard, (and anyone else reading this), we live in a "frightened culture" where anyone who has an agenda uses fear to sell ideas. We live in fear of smelling bad to our friends so we have become an antisepic culture; we live in fear of offending so we invent pyschological dances which act as euphemisms for honesty and we invent notions like "accident" which excuse rather than address serious issues. We respond viscerally to the word "terrorist" because the last president of the United States and his entire adminstration honed and perfected the politics of fear, the powerful leverage of which is not lost on the private sector. It is now almost impossible to separate that which we should be concerned about, and that which is manipulative. So much so, that is has spawned an entire book industry about "being afraid, and we don't really need to be".
You need to understand that underneath the daily noise of all media, (which I think should be totally ignored, completely), there are many good people in this industry and elsewhere working quietly and looking at these trends with a serious eye to change. These are not "daily" threats which one must peek round the corner for - we are looking at hints of untoward trends, the perception of which many years ago, (about 60) through the efforts of many unsung, invisible and very clever people, turned this industry into the safest one in history. That is the way to think about these notions, now being discussed.
That said, the airline industry in the US and perhaps the regional industry especially, may have some self-examination required. That is certainly the way the FAA and NTSB seem to be seeing things.
I hope this helps place it all in perspective.