Obviously, the person I mentioned works on his profession too. He is doing research himself & has a team of PhD students but also needs to "sell" his discoveries and raise funds at the same time. I never said he is only occupied with looking for funds. It's like running a business, you sell your work/product/services/research.
I imagine not every field is the same. Aerospace engineering is important to the US government for multiple reasons. I don't think archaeology would benefit the government that much. However, medicine must be important too.
The difference in academia between the US and Europe is, there is no practical application usually in Europe. They do research most of the time for the sake of research. In the US you need to provide practical results most of the time. I mean, you have to if you want to stay number 1.