Last month I sold $81,000 in ukuleles and tiny drum sets. In this economy, that’s no mean feat.

My commission of that (I don’t mind sharing) was $5282.03

Last night, my bank account received a deposit of $3778.06

I am not, I repeat *not*, a “raise my taxes lose my vote” person. I’m all about high taxes to fund government and social services.

Here’s why I’m seeing red right now:

I was rushed, without my conscious consent, to the ER in July because I passed out unexpectedly and had a violent vasovagal reaction upon awakening (Google it). I spent roughly 5 to 6 hours in the ER. I owe roughly $1500 out of my own pocket for this ER visit. (That’s $300 an hour for a trip to the shittiest hotel I ever slept in.)

So, if my earnings were $5282 and I netted $3778.06, don’t you think that the $1503.36 (28% of gross) of taxes I paid or the $123.56 I paid toward my insurance policy this month would have been enough to sufficiently cover my medical needs?

I give the system 28% of my income and it has the audacity to not even care for me when I’m in immediate medical danger? I then pay some private company $1,500 a year and they also leave me with an additional $1,500 bill as penalty every time I’m apparently not being man enough to avoid medical emergencies? I’d gladly pay 35% of my measly $38k if I didn’t have to be terrified of having an episode and being *another* $1500 in debt!

I look around my neighborhood and everything is shit. The cop across the street lets his kids flick the sirens on and off and sing the birthday song through the loudspeaker on his squad car while we’re trying to have dinner. I can’t even figure out what’s wrong with me without the bills putting me and my small family into nearly un-payable debt. And we also have to somehow find a way to start saving money *now* for my barely one-year-old son’s college 18 years later. I doubt we’ll be able to pay for it in total even then.

Now, here’s the important question:

WHERE THE FUCK IS MY 28% GOING?