It isn't like that at all. The funding picture has changed dramatically in the last few years. Back in 2003 the NIH success rate was around 30 %, if your idea wasn't too stupid you could count on your getting funded for the next five years. Now it's less than 10 %. If you are not at MIT or Caltech you might consider not even applying.
Hey, you know, I hear that <10% NIH success rate number all the time, and am definitely hearing a lot about the effect of the recent sequester, etc. and I completely believe it. But I'm actually somewhat surprised at the published percentage: 20.3% for fiscal year 2012. [0, 1] If I have some time, it would be very interesting to plot the historical success rate trend (if someone hasn't already done that).
Folks, we are looking at the end of an empire.