In spite of this, I find it difficult to financially continue to do science. I understand your feelings completely, and agree with your preceptions. Of course, we are smart, knowledgable, and capable of great discoveries that might even change the world. We all know this. Job prospects at the faculty or industry levels are little more than pipe dreams for all but a few PhDs.
Grant funding goes to basically only the hottest and biggest labs.
There is no trite answer, so I encourage a LOT of further discussion on this really important topic. My sense is that scientists are not by nature highly political. We enjoy gathering and analyzing data, developing and testing new hypotheses, and writing papers. But, to do this, you need a job and you need serious money. Either you do that, or you don't survive.