Phoenix, costs are going down, but so is service, safety and conditions. You might be happy to be on the conditions you sign up for. Good for you. Now, in five years time, what will you do if someone states they are happy to do your job for 30% less? What is your response when they tell you to 'harden up and make the best of it'?
Market forces are what is driving conditions down. Attitudes like yours make the job of airline management easy. These guys are good at manipulating your joy of aviation in to their reduced bottom line. That is what they are trained at doing. Pilots are good at flying aircraft and making conservative short term decisions. With a little cooperation and intelligence we can help stop this rot. Nobody wants to take your job away, in fact what guys are arguing for is to help you maximise the pay you can get for the job you love doing.
Unfortunately, everyone who accepts lower conditions than the guy ahead of them reduces not only their own conditions, but also everyone else in the industry and reduces your own chances of that next well paying job.
I guess, as a group, pilots are too dumb to use the market forces in their own favour rather than being shafted by much more savvy management.