Allocator

It turns out that no one enjoys clearing a clogged septic tank.  If someone did, then it may be possible to perfectly match every person’s interests with work they find interesting.  Eric Raymond concludes in The Cathedral and the Bazaar that people are most efficient while working at something they enjoy.  However, if everyone only worked at things they enjoy, there would be a lot of jobs left undone that no one enjoys performing.  The force to counteract such an imbalance is money.  With money you can trade time spent doing something you don’t enjoy for something you do (like a vacation from that terrible job).  So, the next time you think of money as the great evil, just think of all those dirty jobs that wouldn’t get done if it weren’t for it.