It's amazing the stupidity displayed in a few arguments on here.
First, John's assertion that someone's motivation in why to be a pilot is irrelevant. Wrong - there is a certain demographic from one country with a bad CRM reputation that largely do it because in their home country, being a pilot is still very prestigious. In other words, they do it out of arrogance. A pilot that is motivated by love for flying is likely to learn better, fly better and try harder because they want to be the best they can, rather than just good enough to scrape through, and will have a far better attitude to the rest of the crew.
Second, the view that salary cuts are a return to normality and that arguments about levels of responsibility, with comparison to train or bus drivers who also control a heavy vehicle with many passengers, is ridiculous - they operate in a two dimensional environment with limited weather effects or other variables in a context where they can stop when things go awry; as pilots we operate in a four dimensional environment with no pause button and a damned sight more variables and complexities. Good luck with the crash rate if you want to let the average bus driver loose at the controls of an airliner.
Clearly arguments made by manager types with a hatred of pilots.