I have been thinking about money and the way we pay people on this planet. I thinking that if an alien landed here they would be puzzled at the way we reward people for their work.

There are people who earn large amounts of money, and good luck to them. These people are generally in the financial business or the entertainment business.

Let's take the financial sector first. Many of these people earn huge sums of money and so can buy more-or-less whatever they want. So at the end of each year they get HUGE bonuses! Hundreds of thousands of pounds in the most high profile cases. Do  they need it? I don't think so. Most of us would be just happy to live on their salary without the bonuses. Few people who earn 'normal' salaries get bonuses. I know I didn't when I was teaching.
(And teachers are considered to be 'essential workers'.) There are people who can barely make ends meet on their pay. What must they think when they see people getting these amounts of money on top of their salaries? Not always for success either!

We also pay our entertainers large amounts of money. Most of these people are doing as a job that which most of us do as a hobby. Many of us are in amateur dramatic groups, bands, play football or rugby etc. These are things that people do for fun. I am sure that the vast majority of our actors, musicians and sportsmen and women would still do these things for less money because they are FUN! Why should someone who does a non-essential job be amongst the highest paid people in the country? (Or even the world.)

The people we rely on to keep our society running and us in good health are, on the whole, not paid nearly as much as these other people. The people who keep our streets clean and who empty our bins, for example. Nurses and teachers are not paid anywhere nearly as highly as football players or musicians. Doctors and dentists are reasonably well off until you consider the weekly wage of some premiership football players. Ee the people who run the country--an important job I think most people would agree even if they don't necessarily agree with the way it is being done--are paid only a small amount of money compared to these others. Even less that the chair of some large companies!

So our alien would conclude that our health and well-being and the education of our children is less important to us than being entertained. Perhaps it is.