I’m in no mood to be polite. Yesterday, I bought a bunch of crafting supplies at my favourite international online store, and out of the 150 bucks I spent, 50 were just taxes. And here in Brazil, we are still at a point where this can’t be (exactly) an open conversation because, if I complain about the current government, I’ll be labeled as a far-right extremist.

As is the case today in the entire Western world, where everything that leans even slightly toward the “conservative side” is considered far-right and everything that leans toward the progressive side of the force is considered nothing but good sense.

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My apologies for talking about politics; it wasn’t my intention. But it’s exhausting to spend that amount of money on taxes alone. And mind you, I’m buying crap. Imagine if I had to buy, from international lands, something extremely necessary for my health? I’ll be doomed. No country where the population does not see the power of their own money can be a prosperous country, which, unfortunately, is the case of Brazil.

If you have ever been here, you have seen what the dollar or the euro can do – they do the exact opposite for Brazilians. Everything is expensive in this country, and when the president’s team impose taxes on everything they can, it only makes the situation unbearable – the fan club will always find an excuse, one that, in most cases, involves social justice for the poor (although I thought that helping the poor meant simply getting out of their way).

Since we are talking about being a slave to capitalism, let me complain about a Kindle Signature I bought this week: it cost me 850 bucks on that product, from which 303.18 went to taxes. It’s a known fact that money isn't worth much over here, but still, 303 is still a considerable amount of money. I could have used it to buy imported Pringles, of all things (a pack from the U.S. costs 30 bucks, while a local flavour costs only 15) or a soap from Granado, one of the coolest Brazilian brands in history – this shop has existed since 1870.

I look at my bank account and think that I’m screwed if I need medical care. If my money were being used for something meaningful, I would have left this house a month ago and never looked back. I wouldn’t be in a dangerous situation where only luck is dictating my fate, and I would be living in a neighbourhood where the only noise you hear at night would come from the crickets next door.