WEALTH FLOWETH LIKE A RIVER THROUGH HISTORY...

It changes direction when it hits rocks..

An image or IDEA of a RIVER came into my mind as I listened to podcast 695 of The Rest is History in which Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook told the story of the Fall of Antwerp to the Duke of Parma in 1585. This was a huge shock and resulted in an exodus of the cities merchants and financiers. To….but for a couple of centuries Antwerp had been the richest city in Europe and by trade had enriched those who traded with it. That was before Capitalism became exploitative and one way. It was in the 1400s that Antwerp took over from Bruges as the north European hub of trade,in particular the cloth trade. The golden fleeces of Cotwolds grazed sheep built many a huge parish church for tiny villages of just a few cottages. The immense flow of wealth through the wool trade of medieval Europe attracted financiers,bankers,people who know how to make a buck - out of thin air. Antwerp set up a Stock Exchange in 1531. And the perfume of money guided artists to the place and it became a great early European centre for Art.

The Duke of Parmas (unexpected ) victory changed all that. The bankers,merchants and financiers upped and went pronto to a small modest place further north called Amsterdam.

In 1602 the first MODERN STYLE Stock Exchange was opened in Amsterdam. Famously. That's less than 20 years after the money exodus from Antwerp. And that's what made me think of a river. The water is money. There is no new money. It's the same money since the dawn of time and it flows through human society this way and that and sooner or later or bursts dams,it overflows canals,it flows down secret tunnels. We use money in many forms. Maybe tokens as coins and notes are. Or obligations if we live in a society that doesnt use tokens to symbolise exchange value..When the river hits a rocky place it just changes direction and makes a new course through new Lucky Lands. Attracting the attention of the bankers and financiers.