To be fair the cost of burning 1 million dollars is only the cost to print and transport the money. Assuming it only costs 10c to print a $20 bill then the cos

To be fair the cost of burning 1 million dollars is only the cost to print and transport the money. Assuming it only costs 10c to print a $20 bill then the cost to society of the act was a meagre $5000. I imagine the entertainment value provided would been worth more than $5000. Thus the act could have been a net gain for society. The other $995,000 would have been redistributed through-out the money supply in the form of deflation.