Excellent words of wisdom Normal Pilot.
Countries like UAE, India, China etc are increasing their capacity to produce professional workers like Pilots, Doctors who are as well trained as their western counterparts but are willing/have to do the job for a lower rate of pay. Therefore, in the future we will have no choice but to lower our standard of living in order to compete. The west is just not growing at the rate it was 40/50 years ago to sustain our increasingly high standard of living. Thats not a reality that I want to embrace anymore than the next guy, but there is nothing that I can do other than prepare for it.
On another note, in terms of accepting decreasing T&Cs - pilots in BA accepted a decrease in T&Cs, but I haven't seen the same level of contempt (not that they deserve it) reserved for BA pilots. The BA pay scale has been stretched from 24 years out to 34 years which will see a significant reduction in career earnings, average earnings and pensions, not least, a lot of the new joiners will never see the top of the pay scale. BA is the benchmark for T&Cs, if they can reduce T&Cs there, they can do it anywhere!
The last thing I would note is; you don't start at the top of your industry/company and work your way down!