Suppose you have a situation where the ability to recover is dependent on the skill and training of the pilot involved, but the effectiveness of the automation is such that people and corporations get lazy and disinclined to employ pilots with the necessary skills and/or put out the money and resources to train them?
Aviation is a dangerous business. It is relatively safe everyday because of good people....from mechanics, to air traffic controllers, pilots, and others.
An instructor told me years ago: "You make a mistake on the road, you can probably recover. Make a mistake in the air, and your chances are a lot worse."
Is there "cost cutting"? Sure. Poor maintenance can and has been a factor, but it usually was a poor management decision. Just my bias: but Western nation aircrews are far, far above other nations. And some of the Muslim nations just have wacky nepotism and other factors going on. Egypt Air is one example. With some of these nations, you can provide the same and best training afforded to say a Lufthansa crew, but they will still be crummy. Is it cultural? I would love to see a study on this - but no one would dare ever conduct one.