What is new for most societies European, American, African, and Asian is the attempt to provide a substantial period of formal education for everyone and not just for the small proportion of the population who will become political, social, and religious leaders or for those few who possess surplus time and money for the purpose.
As Schopenhauer insisted, life for the person of means becomes a question of how to dispose of surplus time.
Mr. Florio, they said, campaigned last year indicating he would not raise taxes, and now is calling for excessive increases in the state's sales and income taxes in this non-election year to create a budget surplus in time for his next election campaign.
If a surplus materializes as expected for the current fiscal year, it will be the first time for three consecutive years of surplus since 1947, 1948 and 1949.
"There was such a surplus production of classical music it was time for this to happen.
C1 Pension Surplus Debate These are lean times for pension funds, and few companies report having more pension money than they need.
Its results for 2008 reveal that it made a surplus for the first time that year, with revenues of $2.4m and a profit of $800,000.
The general government budget has gone into surplus for the first time in ten years.
The trade balance went briefly into surplus for the first time in years.
And the F.D.I.C. insurance fund that protects the nation's depositors showed a surplus for the first time in two years.
In his budget last week Trevor Manuel, the finance minister, announced a surplus for the first time in history.
