Clanger,
Re your second point, the fact is there are plenty of integrated route pilots who are in exactly the same position as the modular guys now too.
Sadly WWW has it right. The world is changed. When I qualified in 2003, I was sick of being told "come back when you've got some hours and experience". Then the rules changed and pilots started stumping up cash to buy ratings to get themselves ahead of the competition, but most airlines still wanted time on type, so at least with airline time and no rating, you stood a chance. Now its' become "your experience is irrelevant, how much cash have you got/how low a wage will you accept".
So in many ways, how you got your licence is irrelevant too, as long as you satisfy the entry requirements of the pimps who hawk cadets out to airlines.
Cost is king these days and despite the rhetoric the transient managers that most airlines employ don't care about workforce and it's experience as long as legal minimums/standards are met, and they hit their targets and get their bonuses. Chances are, if something serious happens, it won't be on their watch as they will have ticked the box on their CV to get another rung up the greasy pole somewhere else.
I like the majority of pilots paid a lot of cash (whatever route they took to get there) to qualify to operate commercial air transport. After 3000 hours of flying people around, learning along the way and enjoying doing so, it would be nice to progress both in terms of type and income and reduction of training debt. I never expected to become rich by becoming a pilot, but I never expected to be here solely to line the pockets of others either.
Luckily, I have a job at the moment, but I don't see much hope (or point) in progressing until something changes dramatically.
So Easy, like so many others has become a closed door to my generation of pilots.
Bitter? Frankly, yes.