The best reason's NOT to continue doing academic science research

This is an excerpt from a "Postdoc Fact Sheet" that I downloaded from the National Postdoc Association wesbite. This information was updated a year ago, but you can consider it extremely accurate since in December 2010 Senate decided that post-docs only get a 1% increase in stipends despite already being grossly under-paid. Mom, Dad, I know there was hope that I might find a cure for some crazy disease and help thousands of people, but it doesn't pay enough.

Food for Thought:
Quick Facts about Postdoctoral Scholars (based on available data)
• A postdoctoral scholar (“postdoc”) is an individual holding a doctoral degree who is engaged in a temporary period of mentored research and/or scholarly training for the purpose of acquiring the professional skills needed to pursue a career path of his or her choosing.
• According to the Science and Engineering Indicators 2008: “Recent S&E doctorate holders who entered academic employment at research universities were more likely to be in postdoc than in faculty positions.”
• Traditionally, institutions have not kept records of postdoctoral scholars (although more and more institutions are doing so today); as a result, it is not clear how many postdoctoral scholars are in the United States—but the National Science Foundation (NSF) has estimated that there are from 43,000 to 89,000 postdocs in the United States. The NSF emphasizes that these numbers are estimates, because its surveys focus mainly on postdoctoral scholars who have earned their Ph.D. in the United States and thus do not include representation of international postdoctoral scholars who did not complete their degree in the United States.
• The majority of postdoctoral scholars (estimated at 60 percent today) are “international postdocs,” here on temporary visas.
• The number of science and engineering postdocs with temporary visas at U.S. universities has tripled in the past 20 years, from 8,900 in 1985 to 27,000 in 2005.
• In spite of holding a Ph.D., the median salary of postdoctoral scholars is $38,000 a year—far below the median wage of individuals who hold bachelor’s degrees.
• The average postdoctoral scholar puts in significant “overtime,” working 51 hours a week, although they are not paid for overtime.
• The average postdoctoral scholar, or “postdoc,” is in his/her early thirties and married.
• There is a good chance that this scholar has at least one child, although at least one survey indicates that many delay having children because of the cost.
• While the majority of postdoctoral scholars are in the biomedical fields, these scholars are also found in the social sciences, mathematical and computer sciences, engineering, and the arts and humanities
• Where do scholars go after the postdoc? Forty-one percent find careers in business/industry; percent in government; and 49 percent in education (includes all positions in education, administrative, tenure-track, and other).