Spice

Spice melange brings power to a person.

Those that own it hold onto it tightly. They wield it as a weapon to shape the future and change what is to come in the name of the kingdom they serve.

However, their prescience is limited. One decision made now will affect one outcome which will affect another, ad nauseum. If they can only see out a couple of steps, then they trick themselves into optimizing for the short term. They (un)knowingly sacrifice a global optimum to reach a local one.

What happens when you replace spice melange with money?

Reference to the novel Dune