The number one rule in tech, if you aren't paying you are being manipulated and someone else has the power behind the seen. I'd rather the un-elected people with great control over my government WERE paid by the government. It should scare you that government manipulation/control is the product and we don't know who it is sold to.

The problem with that assertion is that workers are not interchangeable commodities. Background maters.

Your example assumes that most unpaid people are your avg bureaucrat salarymen, looking to pay mortages, with expensive side mistresses etc. But these are not the workers we are talking about. Here are often tech millionaires that made their money actually selling things people found enticing.

For them, the extra dollar is just a small marginal gain on their life. Whereas for the average salaryman you are referring, money is a matter of actually having food of the table.

Not all dollars earned are the same.