My point exactly. Since the US carriers won't pay for the needed level of high quality training, then we are left with the alternative of a large quantity of experience.
I would strongly argue that the 1,500 hours (well, not really since there are some cutouts for it) produces a pilot through a process that is more nuanced than simple hours. However, the time spent being a PIC and calling the shots will expose character flaws along the way that serve as good markers.
More so than the time, the 1,500 hours provides a consolidation and vetting period to see if there are any nasty ticks involved. Any pilot with these will weed themselves out in a way that cannot be done in any ab initio program.
"Buh, buh, the military does it!". I would argue that it is NOT the same. Military life means you are under almost constant scrutiny, and if you eff up, you're out. More so, there is vastly more, let's call it, "peer to peer mentoring", so that losers, jackholes, slackers and others that can't cut it are quickly identified and marshalled out of the program. That's never going to happen in the civilian world, which is why a 2-3 year long period is so critical. If someone is a tool or unable, that will eventually show up in their job history, simply because these kinds of people either show themselves the door, or are identified by employers as problem children.
Those kinds of problems will never show up in a scripted simulator program, no matter how much the wannabees want to think it so.