The critique is ivory tower elitism – only the rich and powerful can afford to expend without reserve.
Wolin, PhD, 04 (Richard, Left Fascism: Georges Bataille and the German Ideology in The Seduction of Unreason: The Intellectual Romance with Fascism from Nietzsche to Postmodernism )
One could raise an analogous criticism of Bataille's treatment of potlatch—the public, demonstrative destruction of wealth—as well [end page 170] as gift-giving. In truth, only those who possess great wealth can afford to destroy it. Consequently, the option to engage in potlatch does not exist for society's lower classes. 56 Like sacrifice, potlatch is implicated in the reproduction of social hierarchy. Such acts reinforce the status and prestige of those who destroy their wealth. In nearly every case, the practitioners of potlatch belong to the upper strata of society. Those who are forced to passively endure the potlatch are in effect humiliated. Through such acts, their lowly social rank is reaffirmed.(170-1)