Honestly it's crap like this, and the constant need to write grants, worry about funding, and crank out papers like there's no tomorrow is why I ended up just going into industry instead.

Don't get me wrong, I love science and scientific advancement, but the current system of publishing is super broken. What if you're a civilian researcher who doesn't have access to the big name journals? Well then be prepared to pony up $50/article.

What did science and medicine ever do for me?

If you paywall publication and peer-review, you suppress a huge amount of science that doesn't have the kinds of checks that corporate sponsorship and review introduce. This means studies of things like the dangers of CFCs, smoking, microplastics, thalidomide, and countless other things that'll kill you will never see the light of day.