The world's "poor" and "middle-class" spend their days buying consumerist garbage, drinking, gambling and wasting their time on prolofeed-like media. The high-level corporate, government and banking classes use the power of law to end competition and collect from the working class through tax-hikes, sanctions and ever-increasing inflation. They live lives of unrestricted leisure while most of us work for them through the interest rates on country's debts, the taxes we pay and, again, inflation.
The mass majority voluntarily displays their lives, beliefs and activities on Facebook and "Check-in" location tracking services, which is thereby scrutinized by the powers that be. The NSA collects encrypted and unencrypted web traffic and stores it on the servers indefinitely, to then be cracked and read for potential threats. As we speak, the CIA plans to implant low-power tracking devices in lamps, appliances and other products:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=7Ct7QwxP23U .
They don't want anybody threatening their power.
Potential dissidents are tracked, monitored and labeled as terrorists with very broad criteria. Over a million normal people are put on no-fly lists and are subject to restrictions in their daily lives through background checks among other things. What lies ahead could be anything.
Honestly, I feel the totalitarian state is already here. How about you? Do you trust the powers that be?
Work hard, develop skills, and you can be just as competitive as the "powers that be." That's no joke. People either get wealthy and powerful because 1) they were born into a wealthy and powerful family or 2) they have undeniable and useful talents. If they are born into a wealthy family, it is likely that their ancestors had undeniable and useful talents.
If you were wealthy and powerful, wouldn't you like to know that your children, and your grandchildren, and your great-grandchildren, etc. will be wealthy and powerful too? I know I would.
My opinions are mixed. Do I agree with all the decisions coming from the top? No. Do I really care? Well, I used to, just like you, and to an extent I still do, but my passion to grapple with authority (I'd be a prime candidate for oppositional defiant disorder) is now mitigated by the serenity of acceptance.
I like myself, and I am a product of the same society as the "powers that be." And, since that is the case, I'm pretty appreciative of them. As you like to say yourself, Atlas, truth "is," and things "are." If you truly believe that, you will realize that it is possible to both fight with all of your might and to also have peace of mind.
Edit: And to answer the trust question, no, I don't. But then again, I also don't trust the sources that give me information about the "powers that be." So, what the fuck do I really know about them anyway?