Free Market Utopia
Am sincerely sorry to hear about you being on forlough, hopefully you will get back soon.
I am puzzled by your logic, in that you state you are for Free Market, that it is a system you believe in, etc, yet you are not willing to accept that a contract forged in the Free Market, which pays these high salaries in the Majors is representative of the Free Market?
Also your analogy about polishing turds is really not a good one, since nobody cares to pay anybody to polish turds, certainly I know you were joking, but the better one is to simply use the one you want, which is a pilot. Even then if we would substitute the term "pilot" for "turd polisher" in your analogy it still doesn't strengthen it. Simply put, being a pilot requires a different skill set, depending on the complexity of aircraft, and place of operation. Point, if a 747 captain retired, would it be prudent for an airline to then replace the pilot with just anybody, or a pilot who has international flight experience, understands their flight operations, and knows how to manage the complexity of international inflight operations/emergencies? Undoubtedly thousands of pilots would even pay the company to fly that aircraft just to get the experience, but do you honestly think that an airline is going to let someone like that lead a flight crew across the Pacific, can you imagine the liabilities and risks the company would be taking, obviously the company recognizes the value of experience and wisdom, and rewards accordingly.
Additionally, in the utopia you write about, where you state that you do not want the union to tell you how much you are worth, that you'd rather develop your own worth, come up with a figure, and then ask the company, how naive is that? What do you do if you don't like their answer? Walk, right? Besides, why would they care what you think, they would say thats nice, but we are going to pay you this crappy wage and if you don't like it, too bad, because the more we can squeeze out of you the bigger our bonuses to our short term managers.
Besides, through the Union we all collectively aid in determining our negotiating position, through our representatives we submit our goals, and in turn, by conducting market research we establish our negotiating position...a true free market exercise if there ever was one, except we send a collective message, pretty simple...power in numbers.
I think you are confused with the term Free Market itself, in that you describe it as some heightened, altrustic, manna from heaven, it being all moral and all ethical...please. Actually what you are advocating is that we scrap our current free market system for the Majors, where wages are bargained for, determined on a variety of factors, where pilots are more productive, yeilding higher profits and revenues, and in turn surrender our productivity to you, so that your wages are increased, yet you are neither as productive as we are, how anti-free market is that?
Furthermore, the hilarious Free Market that you describe does not exist anywhere, it is neither moral nor ethical, it is simply economical, political, and at times certain segments are easily manipulated by powerful economic actors.
You write about a time that maybe existed in a barter economy, you can't simply walk up to an airline and ask them if they need somebody to fly their flight 706 to MIA, that day, get real. This is the world of big corporations, it is not effecient for them to bargain with all these individuals. Also your qoute "One in which my life does not depend upon the sacrifices of others, but on mutual consent with those I choose to do business with." Good luck, all I can say is you should stock up on KY lubricant...you are going to need it. Oh and when you get back to your Regional as you claim you are in, tell them you do not want to work under their contract, or work rules, because after all you have no desire to enjoy the sacrifices of those who came before you and earned those wages or work rules, right? Better yet, call up your company and tell them you do not want recall rights, but that you'd be interested in entering a personal services contract with them...they might then let you drive their lav service truck.
Finally, in your statement that overpaid and being paid above market rates, are not the same, perfectly illuminates your confusion on economics and what actually constitutes a free market system. Good luck with getting back to your "regional," but since you are such a self-styled successful loner, creating your own luck, etc, just turn in your ALPA card and go work for places where there are no unions, you'd be a perfect for each other.