What I notice a lot happening is established researchers with reputable pasts wasting funds on research directions that are basically designed to fool the funding agencies and their bosses and their naive PhD students, but which to anyone initiated in the field are obvious dead ends.

The problem is not one of "midwits". The problem is that in science one is supposed to be in search of the truth and nothing but the truth, but we do not reward honesty. We only reward new discoveries or what appears to be new findings. Then it is no wonder that people are being dishonest.