I think this is the core of the problem. Tons of people (even some who don't seem particularly qualified) are admitted to graduate science programs because they

I think this is the core of the problem. Tons of people (even some who don't seem particularly qualified) are admitted to graduate science programs because they rely on the cheap labour to do research. These graduates, including the very talented ones, often have great difficulty finding permanent positions in Science (myself included). Unless there is a paradigm shift I can't see this changing either. Look at Medicine, as fas as I know the AMA controls the number of doctors that get educated, they aren't relying on cheap student/postdoc labor. In the end more of them gets jobs as doctors (unlike the large fraction of PhD scientists who leave academia/science entirely) and usually command substantially higher salaries that what PhDs make with similar amount of time spent in school.