Not ALL dealers are there to rip you off as you're basically claiming. I happen to be a tech at one myself and we know that both the driveshaft center bearing and front viscous coupler bearings are easily replaceable items by themselves. Both bearings can be ordered at any Volvo dealer and any halfway knowledgeable and semi-skilled tech can replace those bearings.
Apparently your experience was that some inexperienced and/or lazy person chose to try selling you major components instead of fixing what was really needed, but your experience is not necessarily "typical" from what I see in my area.
I just don't like to read seemingly unfair generalizations based on one persons bad experiences and not everyone who works for Volvo or their dealers is there to rip-off the public as you are implying. My experience from the inside is quite the opposite really. Most of us like to think that we're honest people who just happen to have a job (or career) doing something that we one once chose to do because we liked working on cars and in this case, Volvos. The guy who posts the repair articles and pics at Bay13 is also a Volvo dealer tech himself, still employed at a dealer.