THE GRANDIOSE DESTRUCTION OF WEALTH

THE SIMPLEST WAY TO CONTAIN GROWTH: ELIMINATE WEALTH BEFORE IT CAN BE INVESTED

Making the event spectacular draws in the public, so reinforces authority. As by:

  • Competition

This 1914 movie filmed the last match, which anthropologists know as "potlatch."

When the Kwaktiul Indians of the North Pacific obtain goods by barter with whites (from about 1850) the clans that control the trade compete by throwing the wares into the sea. The clan that destroys most wins. 

The community watches from the shore. Then all celebrate with a feast and dancing.

Trailer

These pictures are from the film, 

that is, of the real ceremony

The dance on the return

• Ostentation

       A Royal Army on the March,16th-century tapestry (detail), Renaissance Museum

European nobles disperse their income on accoutrements that they show off around the king. People come from miles to watch processions that break the routine.

Dispersing wealth with panache is part of their prestige: King Arthur cares "not for gold or silver, but for honor alone," says a Roman envoy whom Arthur treats with a feast that a full page describes.

-- La Morte d'Arthur

• Funerals

 The movie shows the majesty of the destruction.

When a Viking chief dies a boat is filled with treasure and burnt.

Everyone watches from the shore.

 • Monuments 

      The Great Pyramid of Giza Zoom

Ancient Egypt remains essentially unchanged for 3,000 years. Imagine — 3000. 

Because the pharaohs neutralize investible income with monuments so huge that the term "pharaonic" applies to any construction that is over the top? 

That immensity is a constant show of power.  

 • Squandering 

European map of Africa of the 14th century, a sign of expanding exchanges.

A 14th-century ruler of the Mali Empire spends so much gold on his pilgrimage to Mecca that its value drops for a decade, which hinders emerging producers.

Populations watch the extraordinary caravan pass and benefit from the largesse. 

 Deliberate destruction
 transforms the meaning of innumerable
customs and events:
We will come back to it many times.

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Next,
Behavior whose logic escapes us