I'm well aware of the points that the last two posts describe.
I can only offer the suggestion that the Regulator has been massively Asleep At The Switch. Isn't this just the sort of thing that Regulators are meant to manage.
I also see it described as somehow competitively necessary to work like this. I have to say that, compared to Europe, I now find US airfares somewhat expensive on the world scale (didn't used to be, but are now), and on I think all of my recent flights on regionals there was no competition, and one carrier was the monopoly provider.
Regarding the "self certification" of fitness, which is effectively "sign here to keep your job", words fail us in the rest of the world. What know-nothing group of lawyers (certainly paid more than USD 20k per year) thought this one up ?