Exactly. This is just like the "we have a shortage of truck drivers" non-problem. What we have is a shortage of people willing to pay a bunch of up-front cost

Exactly. This is just like the "we have a shortage of truck drivers" non-problem. What we have is a shortage of people willing to pay a bunch of up-front costs for a job with relatively low pay, poor work-life balance, and a lot less prestige than it used to have. If airlines paid more and treated pilots better, the shortage would disappear. That being said, airline margins these days are so tight that it wouldn't surprise me to start seeing pushes for alternatives to raising pilot compensation. Anything from remote piloting and self-flying aircraft to lowering entry requirements is probably being discussed in board rooms right now.