Why graduate?

So I just read an article in MacLeans about the horror that is sessional teaching. It didn't contain much that I didn't know -- the fact that sessional teachers are caught in what some call a "ghetto" with no security, no benefits and lousy pay, having spent up to 10 years in grad school is not news, at least to me. But somehow seeing it in print is daunting. What's the motivation to graduate when all there is to look forward to is poverty? I am already well aware that money follows where money has already been. And so far I have proved abyssmal at attracting funding. Of course, looking at how to live well, despite the miseries of late capitalism, is hardly likely to attract money. What institution likes to be critiqued, after all? And yet, what is the point of getting the elusive three letters to post after my name if all it gets me is a salary worse than I could get flipping burgers? At least flipping burgers would allow me to go home at the end of the day and not have to face marking...

This is demoralising.