Even that gives the current strategy too much credit. It is in fact just about reducing costs and making money. For money-men pilots are an inconvenience to be eliminated as quickly as possible.
Pilots used to be almost worshipped ! The captain of the skies. It was an honour to meet one or visit the cockpit and see those stripes on the shoulder.
And yet... Flying now is indisputably safer than when pilots were 'worshipped'. Would you like a few more deaths from avoidable accidents just so the self loading freight down the back could be reminded just how much respect they need to show the pilot? Maybe the odd manufactured 'emergency' to remind them how grateful they should be to the gods of the skies? Yep, turn off the automatics and lets get back to it being a man's game, where there are no old bold pilots but by God the passengers went down screaming the captain's name out of respect rather than terror when he screwed up and killed them all.
When deciding that is the case, perhaps you should also ask the surgeon the next time you go into hospital if he wouldn't relive the glory days by operating on you half cut with a fag in his mouth and without using any modern machines. After all, medical personnel also used to be gods - back in the days when many more people died on operating tables.
Taking the train was much more adventurous back in the day as well of course, before automatic train protection systems and all that bloody technology came in to stop every boy dreaming of being a train driver. OK, so a few people died, but hey the driver was having more fun and that's what's important right? Turn off the TPWS and lets have the oil lamps and semaphores back.
I'm afraid it's happened to every industry. It's called maturing. The first few people are pioneers, who succeed on luck as much judgement. That doesn't last, and eventually professional standards take hold, and the old guard moan that it was more fun when the odd ****up (even if fatal) was a risk it was acceptable to take. Plus ca change. The only difference is that pilots got the god-complex bug even more than most.
Travelling to Asia used to be a once in a lifetime thing, a strange world with strange food and exotic culture. Now busloads go and sit in concrete boxes and etc...
And you see that as a bad thing do you? All those bloody peasants, being allowed to travel! Don't they know aviation is only for the elite, for heavens' sake?!