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In the Name of Order

    I am about to state something which few individuals are willing to state in public. This is not an admission of some sexual indiscretion, or criminal act, nor is it a confession of some bit of meanness, or foolishness, committed in a moment of poor judgment, though these certainly have occurred. I am going to reveal how much money I make. It is strange that we should take this matter so seriously, and make such a secret of it, but this is one of the effects of living in a very materialist, and capitalist system. I make just under $50,000 a year. This is a good, but by no means exceptional, amount of money to be making, and I live quite comfortably on it. This should give me around $1000 a week; of course, it does not. Were I actually able to take home $1000 a week, I would be living very well indeed.
    In addition to living in a rather capitalistic, and materialistic society, I also happen to live in one which is getting to be very complex, very regulated, and quite wealthy. A society like this, generates a certain amount of overhead. As a member of this society, I must pay to support it, and must also cover the costs of some of my own personal overhead. This can be considered as the price of admission, or the member's dues. Of late, this cost has become quite high, though, and it seems as if we are shifting from a complex society, where one has many many structures to support, to a socialist one. A socialist structure is quite simple, in a way, in that there is really only one structure to support. This structure is that of the government, though that government increases to the extent that it soon covers every aspect of the culture. This type government comes at a high cost, both financially and socially
    Most of us pay right around half of our incomes in taxes. This is not so obvious, at first, but becomes apparent after closely looking at just how many points in our lives we are taxed. The one we are all most familiar with is the income tax. There is also the sales tax, which we take almost no note of, as it has become a standard part of all of our purchases. There are VAT taxes, and excise taxes, which we never see, but must be paid by manufacturers on the products they produce. These are claimed to be taxes on industry, but it is we who pay them, by paying more for our products. Then there are corporate taxes, which are also passed on to us, as higher prices. All in all, we pay quite a bit for the "services" of our government.
    Out of the portion of our incomes which does not go to the government we pay for a number of other services. The lion's share of these expenses go to financial institutions. This would be either insurance companies, or banks. We have nearly reached the point where we need insurance to escape the risk of being denied medical treatment. In most states you can not drive without it, and in those few places where you can, you risk penury, because the prevalence of insurance has removed the need for lawyers, and litigants to exercise anything like common sense or restraint. Upon purchasing a product, I am offered an extended warrantee, and told that I really should get one, lest the product fail me. I am warned that without one, I must deal with the manufacturer, a time consuming, expensive, and often unsatisfactory procedure. This extended warranty will cost me a bit more, but will give me the chance to avail myself of the local service center, which is claimed to be less time consuming, expensive, and and unsatisfactory. It seems that products can no longer be expected to be servicable. Serviceability is now an extra cost option.
 

these services give us the time to perform our most important functions work and pay taxes.
services concentrate wealth, while manufacturing spreads it.