While it's the first work I'm reading on this topic, I'd want to ask, why so much interest is focused on miner's earnings compared to the core developers?
Because the mainstream media doesn't hype it every day whereas they constantly talk about mining!
It's a delicate matter that needs to be approached fairly if you aske me.
On one hand we have contributors to an open source software that technically do the job for free. But that is not just any software, it is the protocol for a money that is currently worth $1.8 trillion and lots of businesses are built using it that rely on its healthy existence. Developers who are being incentivized to continue doing good work are better than developers who may give up and seek employment elsewhere to make a living in this worsening economic situation.
But on the other hand when we have centralized entities paying their "wages" (even if it is not exactly employment) one would question their motivations and possible demands and how much corruption is "seeping in"...