Wealth And Potential Violence

"Margin of Profit" immediately sets the scene for a society where there are accumulations of great wealth that must sometimes be defended by force:

Freeman van Rijn can afford a human receptionist among his winking, talking machines, lucent plastic walls and jade columns;

she is both attractive and armed;

lobby guards check the credentials and retinal patterns of visitors and remove their firearms;

there is probably a personal fealty clause in the receptionist's contract;

over the intercom, van Rijn is heard to threaten an embargo and maybe a blockade against an emperor on a mere single planet;

after van Rijn's interview with the union representative comes the passage outlining the technological and economic bases of the Polesotechnic League;

next we are told that one of van Rijn's mansions is on Kilimanjaro, an easy place to defend, if necessary. 

Will this be necessary? Yes, although much later in this future history, Earth will be raided and sacked.