It's trickier then just the paycheck. People have an inherent need of seeing their actions slowly making a progress to some global goal. Saving for retirement c

It's trickier then just the paycheck. People have an inherent need of seeing their actions slowly making a progress to some global goal. Saving for retirement could be one. Paying off your mortgage, or growing your business, or raising your kids, or even having a meaningful career (that gives you more control over the company's decisions) could be another one. If everyone is replaceable and the salary only covers recurring expenses, people go nuts and start looking elsewhere. A lot of the visible homeless lifestyle is a (petty) power to inconvenience others. A lot of the theft is about the power over someone else to get what was intended for them. Opening your own bakery and turning people into recurring customers through clever recipes scratches the same itch, but makes the society a much more pleasant place to live. Except, given the interest rates, centralized suppliers and property prices, good fucking luck with that.