Gentlemen, you got it all wrong. The FAA rule making regarding the 1500 hour qualification requirements is a kneejerk reaction pushed by ALPA to reduce the supply of pilots in the USA, hence driving up the pilot pay.
There is nothing wrong with that but you have to stick to the true reasons why. As Airline training in the USA under FAR 121 FAA supervise all operators the same. The assign POI is now limited to max two years with one operator, is does not matter if you fly for Delta or a small regional airline, the operation surveillance is identical.
The actual training is also identical, it does not matter if you fly an RJ or a B777 and the training requirements are absolutely the same. There are some few exceptions.
The majority of airlines in USA are now under the AQP program Ops Spec A34, Southwest Airlines refuse to participate due to cost, AQP is slightly more expensive that old fashion training. I take a 200 hour FO any day if he have received proper training, if he/she completed and AQP course with an airlines he is 1000 time better that a 1500 CFI. What is a 1500 CFI nothing more than 1 hour of traffic patterns 1500 times.
The airplanes we fly today is very electronic, and you manage the flight deck, 20 some years ago when I started you actually had now how to fly. (Just kidding, well almost) This is all about supply and demand, the world pilot pool is shrinking, and there will be a huge demand for pilots in the future, not in the USA but everywhere else, India, China etc. The airlines will lobby for lower requirements once the supply dries up.
So in the end it all comes down to training: and there is nothing and No Airlines in the world that can beat the FAR 121 training in the USA. I base that on my background, I have 20 years of Airline training background, all over the world, I have trained pilots in an airline environment in Middle East, China Russia, all over Europe and South America. This has nothing to do with the intelligence of the actual pilot it is strictly based on the cultural differences; the thought process is just different. A Chinese pilot is not taught critical thinking the way an American etc.