The current research funding payline is about 10%, meaning 9 out of 10 grant applications don't get funded. This has less to do with economic downturn mythology and everything to do with gross mismanagement at every level of the funding machine. The process has become a lottery - a contest in which success is unlikely due to the disparity between the number of participants and the meager prize money, and whose outcome is based more on luck than skill.. Everybody in the game knows this, but nobody will speak out for fear of retribution.