He said that low pay for pilots compromises safety, pilots who fly for less money are not the best and brightest. I think that's baloney.

Airlines don't hire and retain pilots who are not qualified. Pilots who are willing to fly for low pay do it because they love to fly and money isn't their only motivator. Those pilots are not less qualified than people who are only motivated by money.

If you meet the requirements to fly for the airlines, then you're the best and brightest regardless of how much money you are willing to work for.

edit:

I have a book that says major airlines paid pilots a starting salary of $60,000 before deregulation, which would be $150,000 in today's dollars.

The starting salary now is around $30,000. Are we less safe because salaries went down? Is there a correlation between salary and accident rates? I don't think so.