The Golden Rule by Dwimordene

[dwimordene_2011]

Title: The Golden Rule

Author: Dwimordene

Rating: G

Characters: Thrór, OC Dwarves

Warnings: Some may say this is AU. I say, would anyone expect Thorin to explain this up front? ;-D

Summary: Economic imperialism does Middle-earth, round 2: six drabbles on the Kingdom Under the Mountain and how to coopt people to your program. Because Himring set my brain

Comments

[aliana1]

I love this take on Erebor economics! Next time I watch The Hobbit: AUJ I will keep this scenario in mind. ;) You make particularly good use of OCs here, and I especially like the line: Them some counseled force, but the merchants said: Blood is dearest: trade dearer first! It perfectly illustrates how trade and prices can be used as an effective political tool and weapon, sometimes much moreso than physical force. This student of economics thoroughly approves--but you knew that.

[dwimordene_2011]

Next time I watch The Hobbit: AUJ I will keep this scenario in mind. ;)

I swear, there's a deleted scene where Thorin and Balin Discuss It All.

I especially like the line: Then some counseled force, but the merchants said: Blood is dearest: trade dearer first! It perfectly illustrates how trade and prices can be used as an effective political tool and weapon, sometimes much moreso than physical force

Glad this meets your professional approval! At least for a time, I think the decision to force others to pay more in trade can be effective. At some point, Erebor's heading for outright intimidation; they can just afford for the time being to take a less overtly destructive approach. Drabble six is my PNEC drabble - Project for a New Ereborian Century. It's just that Smaug got them first.

But yeah, trade is a weapon of war for Erebor as it is for most nations. Ain't no trade = peace thing going on here, as Economic Imperialism!Thranduil well knows!

[hhimring]

Oh! But it's true, isn't it? Nothing makes gold sickness set in faster than when you've got used to having the stuff and there are reasons to fear that you will have less soon. And the isolation of the Lonely Mountain can certainly be ominous in more than one way.
And once a particular approach to the problem becomes an established way of thinking in a whole society, it becomes all the harder to think one's way back out.
I suppose this would also provide strong motivation for Balin's attempt to take Moria. Because whatever Smaug did, he would not have refilled the mines...

[dwimordene_2011]

Nothing makes gold sickness set in faster than when you've got used to having the stuff and there are reasons to fear that you will have less soon.

This is one of the most insidious, difficult things I see in society today. It's so easy to coopt people to a destructive program that looks mild but which assumes that society can only function at present levels and rates of profit, and of course that those who have always controlled the wealth will continue to control it and society. You just present a gigantic scare scenario, and tell folks who have no clue about how the society really works that if they don't support X, then they will suffer a fall in their standard of living.

once a particular approach to the problem becomes an established way of thinking in a whole society, it becomes all the harder to think one's way back out.

Witness today...

I suppose this would also provide strong motivation for Balin's attempt to take Moria. Because whatever Smaug did, he would not have refilled the mines...Quite probably, although Moria

[hhimring]

I should also say--you've twisted the screw really well. One feels a certain amount of sympathy and perhaps even admiration for Darri and the guild masters, who think they are doing the patriotic thing. Then, with the counselors at the end, you feel you are peering into the depths--and is grateful that the king's grandson is described as being "hostile"!

[dwimordene_2011]

One feels a certain amount of sympathy and perhaps even admiration for Darri and the guild masters, who think they are doing the patriotic thingThanks! I think it's important to see that motivation - this isn't full-fledged capitalism. It's got strong nationalist/nativist tendencies, and everyone is primed to respond to that. Especially when you've got a war-hawk contingent, you may think you're saving the kingdom doubly - once from poverty, once from war

[huinare]

Good take on the subject. Rapidly exploiting non-renewable resources that make up the backbone of one's economy would have to result in a scenario like this, eventually. And no, the Dwarves certainly wouldn't want the outside world to know of their troubles, would they?

[dwimordene_2011]

Yep, pretty much.

Tolkien's description in PoME of the Dwarven tendency to outsource farming to others suggests a strategy unique in the ancient world: let someone not part of your population and independent of your political control feed you. That's totally foreign to most ancient societies, if I'm not mistaken. It's a very dangerous situation to be in, and yeah, I doubt they'd want to advertize that on top of that, their one export is at risk of exhaustion.