[gordner]

Pay in aviation sucks period. Most pilot's see a huge salary reduction moving to an airline, as they were likely senior in a commuter type operation making decent coin as a smaller aircraft captain, then they move right seat on an airliner and drop %50 of their salary in the move.
The 150-200 K you think Delta pilots make is the top of the scale and is rarified atmosphere up there, not too many guys are in that area.
It would be nice to think an American carrier would do it better, but cost drives everything in aviation. This could easily occur on an American carrier just as it can on international carriers.
The lower end of the pay scale is not for losers and F ups, it is for the low time pilots on the way up. Hours are everything for pilots, they are not really commercially insurable until they hit 2500 or so. The good ones learn everything they know getting those 2500 hours, not driving a bus at 38k feet into massive airport centers.
I seriously doubt this guy came across as a looney in his interview.....People do crazy things, and that is something you will never be able to "procedure" out of life.