In a recent post on "Common mistakes of left-wing economists", the first item on Tyler Cowen's list of mistakes is:

1. Suggesting that money matters in politics far more than the peer-reviewed evidence indicates.
Kevin Drum's response to this was charmingly human:

I think the peer-reviewed evidence is wrong. It simply isn't able to capture all the dynamics of money in politics.
I too find peer-reviewed evidence that fails to line up with my ideology suspect.

One thing I do know is that making money is not the same as starting a business. For entrepreneurs, this is an important thing to understand. Most of us identify with the products we create or services we provide. I make software. He is a headhunter. She builds computer networks. But the fact is, all of us must master one skill that supersedes the others: making money. You can be the most creative software designer in the world. But if you don't know how to make money, you're never going to have much of a business or a whole lot of autonomy.

This is not about getting rich (though there's certainly nothing wrong with that). Instead, for me, making money is about freedom. When you owe people money, they own you—or, at least, they own your schedule. As long as you remain profitable, the timeline is yours to create.