I believe most people want to do something valuable with their time. But valuable doesn&#x27;t always translate 1:1 to fungible with money. Raising a child is work. Ministry is work. Volunteering is work. Art is mostly just hard work.<p>There&#x27;s this concept throughout American politics, and I don&#x27;t think it&#x27;s at all true, that most people are just lazy thieves, and would happily sit on their butts watching reruns all day if they could sponge off others to do it. Of course, no one putting this theory forth thinks it applies to them - <i>they</i> want to work hard for the sheer pride of it.<p>I do, however, think there&#x27;s a massive tradeoff of doing a dayjob that you hate to keep a roof over your head, versus doing something you love that won&#x27;t really generate cash. I&#x27;d go farther and say many of the best-paying jobs pay well not because they&#x27;re high-skilled, but rather because they&#x27;re low-morality. If you&#x27;re willing to do unethical things to people, you can make a lot of money, legally.<p>At any rate, if people want a better than minimum standard of living, they&#x27;ll get a job. If they have an alternative, they&#x27;re more likely to do a job they love. And a lot of people would do stuff they love for no &quot;job&quot; at all, if it was a choice.