Lol. Linus didn't pour decades of his life into Linux to save a buck. Neither did Stallman with GNU. Even if the alternatives at the time only cost $15, (hahahahahaha) free alternatives would still have been well worth making.
Software freedom has never been about money, and always been about preserving public access to a software commons. You might believe your local bookstore is a better source of knowledge than your local library, but that's only because you don't really know what you're missing.
I agree with your point, but your analogy doesn't hold up. There are several topics I've had to go to book stores to learn more about because my local library (and the systems they connect with) don't have any relevant materials. I make a habit of checking the library for non-fiction books first. Sometimes it pays off, but often not.
Software freedom has never been about money, and always been about preserving public access to a software commons. You might believe your local bookstore is a better source of knowledge than your local library, but that's only because you don't really know what you're missing.