Why Look at the Money Trail?

No one rules alone. From the most hallowed of deified ancient monarchs to our modern day democratic representatives, without others to enforce it a ruler’s will is no more effectual than a child’s daydream. A king cannot prosecute a war, gather taxation, enforce their law, or influence the pathologically unfaithful court of nobles to bow to them without their supporters. The true power of any ruler, therefore, is their ability to influence others to make their will reality, and the oldest and most reliable means of asserting power and influence is one simple concept that has driven much of human society for thousands of years; money. If the façade of social norms and protections are suddenly and violently ripped away, as they have been in many political revolutions of the 18th century, those who are cash rich still maintain a level of power. When the starving mob arrives at your gates with pitchforks and torches in hand baying for your blood, it helps to have money to hand since you can’t take land with you as you escape to another, less progressive, region of the world.

The economy is often described as being the means by which we as a species try to satisfy unlimited demand with the limited supply that exists, but this explanation (while useful for teaching a complex concept quickly) skips over the most important question that must be asked when first hearing this; who decides how the supply is allocated? The answer to that question changes constantly throughout history and will vary dramatically from person to person, but really the answer is rather simple.

The stability of a ruler is deeply rooted in the manner in which they allocate the wealth of a nation among its people. How that stability is maintained is essentially the political landscape of that nation, and many people are unaware of just how integral the history of money and the question of what to do with it is to the very institutions they rely on and look to for leadership to this very day.

I started this blog with the intention of bringing this concept to light by exploring some of the more fantastical stories in history involving money and the ripple effects it has, both internally and externally. So please join me as I tell the stories that the trail money has left us throughout history.