Re Heat:
*sure I was talking about the TOTAL external debt, which includes the public debt. Is that irrelevant? Maybe. Maybe not... What is sure is any country want to look at itself in the mirror that will reflect the best image.
*Pimco is an investor. You are right. How does it work? Speculating to make money. Of course it demands a lot of brain, ressources, knowledge, but the goal remains simple: speculating and making money, even if it has to be against a country. Welcome to the 21 rst century.
*You say Greece will default... While the subject (and the question) is about the downfall of the Eurozone that would bring instability then a big recession and will compromise the project of becoming pilot. This is the whole picture that you have to take into account to speak about Greece, Eurozone, its foreseing future and its influence on the decision process to start a pilot training. I desagree with you: Greece won't necessarily default. And if it does it won't bring down the Eurozone. I already explained why, so if I were a wannabe I would be more cautious about the fuel price in the 5 next coming years than the Eurozone.
*Yes a cadet scheme is the best to become an airline pilot nowadays. But I beleive everybody is already convinced about that.
*I just checked your wikipedia list: it represents only one part of the total debts (it doesn't take into account the private debt, neither the external debt, neither the savings available, neither the economic growth, neither the budget deficit of the current year, which are all determinant information to evaluate the economical nation strength). This list doesn't mean much if we speak about default. For example Japan has a huge public debt, but it all belongs to japanese families,money available they already have. That's not external/foreigner debt, and as such nobody consider Japan will default because of its public debt, which is not subject to any speculation and fully under control of the country governement and bank.
At the opposite it shows Spain with a very low public debt... If you are really interested in economic and the relation between all economic agent, this list means close to nothing.
I beleive right now is the best time. I think that somebody who has just finished his training may have some opportunities right now. And if he (the same potential wannabe) didn't find anything yet, he shouldn't think it will get better with time, the industry is already giving everything it can considering the economic environment and the fuel price that will stay at $100 or above from now on, unless a recession brings it down.
Now is the best time: that's in fact bad news. Because a wannabe has to fly for almost 50 years before he can retire, and many people are ready to bet we will need far, far less pilot in 40/50 years than now, and for many reasons.
Pilot is mainly a career of the past, it has to be avoided. It doesn't mean there will be absolutely no interesting pilot career path available anymore, it simply means many young pilot who start today will lose their job
Now if somebody is passionate and wants to become an aviator: get a cheap CPL, enjoy some bush flying in Aslaska, Canada, Africa, south east Asia, Australia... Then, after 10 or 15 years "retire", and with all your experience, saving and pictures start a second career via university. That's the advice I would give to a young pilot student in 2011.