it really don't make sense.
Since there is a glut of PhD's and ABD's, the logical thing would be to see market forces drive down the price of a professor. Thus, instead of starting at 70-90k, Depts should be able to have new lines for AP's starting at say 45k.
But we don't see this. most new jobs still pay 70-90k. It should be a buyer's market and depts should be hiring lots of new people at low prices.
Markets don't work in academia.
^^ How do you know that the price wouldn't be higher if jobs were aplenty (holding everything else constant)?
Imagine tomorrow the number of jobs go up 3X, and many folks end up with competing offers (whereas today they get 0 or 1 offer). Are you suggesting that they wouldn't get paid more?
Finally, if you look at the data, 70k-90k for assistant profs is significantly more than average. If you take the universe of jobs, not just R1s.
That's what most departments outside the top R1s have been doing for quite some time.
Depts should be able to have new lines for AP's starting at say 45k.
^^ Spot on. 40-60k is quite common for a new AP at a lot of programs. OP is either a troll, or a graduate student woefully unprepared for the job market. Perhaps, both.
While your larger point is somewhat accurate (prices not going down), this:
"most new jobs still pay 70-90k"
is false. A small fraction of junior positions offer a salary in this range.