What is a rare literary talent worth here in these United States?

$35,000/year- one time only

“Mr. Merwin, [who was appointed poet laureate of the United States in June 2010] has won just about every major award an American poet can . . . ”
What does this say about us, as a society, where a top hedge fund manager, who earns a $ 1 billion a year (a conservative estimate), is worth 28571.4 times more than our poet laureate.