I can’t think of any reason in the universe that any one person ever needs to make more than a million dollars a year.

There just aren’t any, the practical enforceability of that limitation aside. If a million a year isn’t enough to motivate you to do something, it probably isn’t worth doing – meaning that only extremely unethical or sociopathic people are likely to do what’s necessary to exceed that threshold.

I don’t think however that everyone should make the same amount. Some jobs are objectively harder than others. Being an IT generalist in a fast-growing, acquisition-based company is much harder than being a proofreader and that should be reflected in compensation.

I know, by the way, because I’ve held both jobs. If I could make what I make now by being a proofreader I’d go be a proofreader again in a damn second. Without even a thought about it other than concentrating on how fast I can get the word “Yes” out of my mouth.

Conversely, if I were to make what I made as a proofreader now, I’d quit immediately. It just would not be worth it in any way.

So from personal experience I can tell you that compensation does matter, but I think it ceases mattering somewhere probably around 500K a year given how human nature seems to work.