Hiding physical wealth provides reassurance that financial abstractions cannot.
Evidence
The specter of penury and financial disaster terrified Gordon. He had tucked several one-hundred-dollar bills in the underwear drawer of his bureau and had stashed ten gold Krugerrands in the filing cabinet in his office, small hedges against whatever the future might bring. When he happened to come across these small treasures, he’d count the bills and heft the Krugerrands, and feel reassured. — , Harr Jonathan - A Civil Action, 1135
Categorization
- STORYSTEM: A character defined by secret hoards — gold coins and cash cached against a doom no one else sees — could anchor a story about someone whose life unravels despite every hedge.
- XREF: connects to: Counter-speculation turns financial uncertainty against oppressive structures — Aris Komporozos-Athanasiou, Speculative Communities: Living with…, 69; Money’s abstract promises require trust that excludes others’ unpredictable interference — Niklas Luhmann, Trust and Power, 211; Two dominant frames treat financial wealth as either real value or pure illusion — Max Haiven, Cultures of Financialization, 41 (+5 more)
Broader Connections
- Financial assets are largely imaginary, yet imaginary does not mean unreal
#expands(0.95) — Max Haiven, Cultures of Financialization, 29 - Money lets people do things their individual powers cannot
#expands(0.95) — Yanis Varoufakis, Technofeudalism, 94 - Counter-speculation turns financial uncertainty against oppressive structures
#complicates(0.85) — Aris Komporozos-Athanasiou, Speculative Communities, 69 - Money’s abstract promises require trust that excludes others’ unpredictable interference
#complicates(0.85) — Niklas Luhmann, Trust and Power, 211 - Financial wealth is fictitious yet real because shared fictions govern social reproduction
#complicates(0.85) — Max Haiven, Cultures of Financialization, 42 - Markets require abstract standardized assets that may not physically exist yet.
#complicates(0.85) - Social-media authenticity paradoxically invites skeptical questions about wealth’s source.
#complicates(0.85) — Alice E. Marwick, Instafame, 68 - Two dominant frames treat financial wealth as either real value or pure illusion
#complicates(0.80) — Max Haiven, Cultures of Financialization, 41