This is nuts. So movies shouldn’t charge either right? Or TV shows. Where is the line between something that you think should be free and what someone needs to be compensated for in order to make it? That line is determined by the creators. The people making money on YouTube do it as a full time gig why shouldn’t they get paid? Clearly if they weren’t they would be forced to do something else instead of video making.

YouTube is an amazing platform. It has allowed people to make videos about things they want and allowed people interested in that content to find it. Allowing people to pay (in various ways) for what they want means that other people can step up and provide that service instead of doing something else.

A good heuristic for when financial transactions are “gross” is if you are dealing with strangers or not. If you call your spouse from work and ask them to make and bring you a sandwich for lunch we would be horrified if they said it’ll cost you $20. On the other hand, no one should feel offended if you get charged when you call up a stranger to do the same thing.

There are different incentives at work in different spheres of life. Society depends on strangers doing things for other strangers. Google the Fatal Conceit to get the full picture. Bottom line is that there is nothing “gross” either for paying for something you want from a stranger or of them being paid for something they did for you.

> making every human exchange a financial transaction is gross

You seem to think that YouTube is "every human exchange". I'm going to let that speak for itself.

I made no such claim so the only thing you are letting speak is your lack of reading comprehension.

Do you get paid at work?