Ours is a world whose entire infrastructure is built upon the system of the transaction. You do this for me, and I will do that for you. You scratch my back, and I’ll scratch yours, so to speak. Our societal language is constructed by a labyrinthine network of buying and trading and earning and purchasing and rewarding. These are the inescapable laws of the land. The only hope afforded, then, comes when you learn how get better at the exchanges happening all around. You might say that life is all about being a better negotiator. So long as we can come out on top, we will win life’s transactions. So the logic runs.