Greed comes easily within a biosphere whose constituency triumphs as a function of ability to amass the wealth of photosynthesis. Bataille's tiger mercilessly hunts the leaf-eating deer. North Americans now fell trees to print paper money with colored fibers - or submit such bills in return for the striped pelt of that endangered mammal. Photosynthesis creates excess, surplus, a reserve of matter and energy whose uses are as numberless as life is creative. Bataille perceived that the character of a particu- lar society is determined less by its needs than by its excesses.
Wealth creates freedom in both biological and cultural realms.
A nostalgia for old Europe, a respect for native American restraint, an admiration for the opulence of Egypt - these are sentiments based implicitly on the recognition that a culture is determined by how its members choose to spend or accumulate its excess. Rome makes its coliseum and basilicas, America its MacDonald's and Disneyland, Egypt its sphinx-guarded pyramids. In the United States politicians grapple with tax collection, deficit and debt reduction, and public spending. The government prints money that banks lend without having or touching. Stocks, bonds, certificates of deposit, precious metals, and other instruments of finance are owned by investors.