I think some of this has to do with... resentment? You're this incredibly smart person, you worked really hard, and no one values you. No one wants to pay you big bucks, no one outside a tiny group knows your name even if you make important contributions to the field. Meanwhile, all the dumb people are getting ahead.

Part of it, too, is that, while no one goes into academia to get rich, people quickly find out that the academic world runs on money. If you don’t get grants, you die, even with tenure. So what’s the point?

The reality of academia is so dismal that most people, by 30, wish they had sold out and chased money like the dumb-dumbs, who are, as you correctly note, farther ahead.