Listen bro, it is an economic issue. Money drives incentives for the most part, whether we like it or not. Google, Amazon, Netflix, etc all struggle to outbid each other for the best minds. They offer ridiculous packages and pay just to keep the best. Do not be deceived.

You cannot keep bright minds to work with you for a long time without good pay. Of course there are exceptions.

Also, most open-source suffer from lack of screening process, allowing any joe-blow to "contribute".