As somebody who's about to finish a CS dissertation, I sometimes think the best way to do CS research is to get a somewhat interesting software engineering job that allows for a 4-day week and to do research as a side project. Most likely, this gives one more research time than staying in academia (with the exception of the first Post Doc, perhaps).
Edit: This works for most of CS, but not for most of Physics, I assume.
Could work for alot of computational-x fields.
Historically, i tried to get software dev jobs that maximized my free time to do whatever i what on the side (also helped that i've been working remotely for ~6 years).
I now PhDs that became High School teachers and they were some of the most gifted. I know PhDs that wait tables to make ends meet.
I think if the guy has fundamentally not understood what Peter Turchin was talking about. They are getting priced out of the housing market, won't ever be able to afford to buy a house. Even raising a family might be difficult. At the same time you pay for services for the boomers and a retirement and social security that yourself might never see.