@Bealzebub
That is a wonderful post, it explains the situation clearly. It's unfortunate that so many don't seem to understand the concept of supply and demand, and are willing to spend thousands and thousands to obtain the certificates which will enable them to spend thousands and thousands more to get the ratings that will enable them to spend thousand and thousands more to sit on the sideline with "minimum hours" and ratings to qualify for a job, but be competing with people who have years, and even decades of experience.
It seems too many think that the 2005-2008 blip was "normal", rather than looking at the past 4 or 5 decades and seeing that it was not normal, and that we can never expect to see that level of hiring again.