Communism, the first Christians, and Mormon clergy pay

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In the Bible in Acts 4 (King James Version is the official LDS bible version for the English language) we read:

34 Neither was there any among them that lacked: for as many as were possessors of lands or houses ^asold them, and brought the prices of the things that were sold,

35 And laid them down at the apostles’ feet: and ^adistribution was made unto every man according as he had ^bneed.

36 And Joses, who by the apostles was surnamed ^aBarnabas, (which is, being interpreted, The son of consolation,) a Levite, and of the country of Cyprus,

37 Having land, sold it, and brought the ^amoney, and laid it at the apostles’ feet.

http://lds.org/scriptures/nt/acts/4?lang=eng 

In Acts 2 we have similar scriptures

44 And all that believed were together, and had all things ^acommon;

45 And sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had ^aneed.

http://lds.org/scriptures/nt/acts/2?lang=eng 

So what is this "All things in common" thing about?  Apparently a lot of people that were converting to Christianity were selling everything and then giving it away or giving it to the apostles to give away.  I found an article by a non-Mormon Christian referring to what we read in Acts, and I agree with what he (Jason Jackson) says for the most part: http://www.christiancourier.com/articles/1204-should-christians-have-all-things-in-common  I would guess that some of the property and wealth of what became the Catholic and other Orthodox Christian churches originated in donations similar to these by faithful adherents. 

In the Book of Mormon there is a similar experience in 3 Nephi 26, shortly after the coming of Christ

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to the Americas (after his death and resurrection in Israel)

19 And they taught, and did ^aminister one to another; and they had ^ball things ^ccommon among them, every man dealing justly, one with another.

20 And it came to pass that they did do all things even as Jesus had commanded them.

http://lds.org/scriptures/bofm/3-ne/26?lang=eng 

We as Mormons believe that the biblical Enoch was translated to heaven with a whole city, and that they had "no poor among them," probably at least in part due to this sharing of goods. 

Enoch  http://lds.org/scriptures/gs/enoch?lang=eng

Hebrews 11:5 By faith ^aEnoch was ^btranslated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this ^ctestimony, that he pleased God.

Bible: Hebrews 11: http://lds.org/scriptures/nt/heb/11?lang=eng

Moses 7:18 And the Lord called his people ^aZion, because they were of ^bone heart and one mind, and dwelt in righteousness; and there was no poor among them.

Pearl of Great Price: Moses 7: http://lds.org/scriptures/pgp/moses/7?lang=eng 

In the early days of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, this sharing of all things was again attempted.  http://lds.org/scriptures/gs/united-order.p2?lang=eng&letter=u 

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These ideas sound somewhat similar to Communism.  I think there is an underlying similarity in the
idea of holding things in common, but, as history shows, communism has been an epic FAIL in every measure that I can think of.  Scripturally, most of the attempts at having all things in common eventually ended without success. 

I actually wanted to shoot all this out as background for a question I've heard from multiple friends.  It goes something like this: How much do Mormon clergymen make/Where does all the Mormon tithing money go/Holy cow the Mormon church is rich. 

First of all, there aren't really any paid clergymen as most Christians would think.  Our congregations (wards or branches) are run without pay from top to bottom.  Groups of... what 8-16 wards or branches are called stakes, and the leaders of these groups do not receive any pay. 

There are only two groups, as far as I know, that receive any actual money from the church.  Church employees, such as building construction people, facilities maintenance people, people that produce church materials, computer programmers, etc. are all paid.  Even though they work for the church, their jobs require secular education, and the nature of their work is secular, not religious.  They get paid. 

The other group is the general authorities and mission presidents.  This includes our prophet, Thomas S. Monson (http://lds.org/church/leader/thomas-s-monson?lang=eng) from the very top.  They take part in a fund that is set up, separate from tithes and offerings, that consists of money pooled from the private finances of people that make up this sub group, and, the profits from some business ventures and properties owned by the church.  I think the last time actual amounts were published was about 30 years ago, but the pay for each of them came to about 80,000/year in today's money. 

So none of them are off living the high life from members' tithing (which is 10% of our income) or even from the fund that they use.  In any case, members of the church would laugh at the idea of these leaders living the high life, because we know that they are extremely busy.  You can tell by how many talks they give and how much they have to do.  Do a search for any of them on the website, and you'll find an insane number of talks and things, and, at least for the apostles and first presidency, places in the world where they've met with members and been in meetings etc. 

I appreciate comments, clarifications, and questions. 

Jeff