Ah who cares ... people get so fired up about all this, but it's really only the one company who charge for ratings anyway.
If you really really must be a 737 jockey with only 200 hours to your name then as far as I'm concerned you buys the rating and you takes your chance. If you get the job then it's a massive break and more power to you, if you don't, then tough sh!t and it serves you right for trying to run before you can walk.
Those of you who DON'T want to buy the rating, then don't get all fired up about it, just carry on doing what 95% of the rest of airline pilots did ... instruct your way to your first thousand hours, wait patiently for your first break in air taxi or turboprop. get your command, do that for another year or two and then start sending CVs to the big jet boys. You'll still get there.
It's kind of like the way people invest in the sharemarket ... some people are drawn to buying the short term, high risk, high reward shares (FATPL with 737 rating), some of them hit the jackpot but the risk of coming up empty handed is that much greater. Others take a long term view and invest in blue chip institutions (working your way through GA and turboprops) where the initial rewards are low but the chances of it all going pear shaped are a bit less.
The wannabe world will not come to an end like some of you seem to think, just because one particularly sharp Irish operator starts taking advantage of the current downturn to charge for type ratings. They brought that policy in pretty much overnight post Sep 11th and they can and will change it just as quickly if the employment scene turns around.