[Clubber]

>do something I hate 8+ hours a day, I would at least to prefer to be making enough money to distract me from it.

This is a fallacy. If you hate it, you will still hate it no matter how much you make. The motivation gained by the larger salary will wear off in about a month or two.

[burntoutfire]

I've been in this situation and have seen it as a fair trade - I was hating the job with passion, but was compensated with unreasonable amounts of money for it. The reward seemed proportional and appropriate for the effort. Whereas if they cut my salary by even 30%, I'd quit on the spot.

[goodbyeworld37]

Yeah but when the choices are do something you hate for a moderate amount of money or do something you hate for a ton of money, the second option is at least marginally better. Hell at some of those salaries you could probably even retire early.