> It doesn't represent anything tangible that exists right now. It's realized capital gains, not unrealized paper wealth, that is the proxy for goods and servic

> It doesn't represent anything tangible that exists right now. It's realized capital gains, not unrealized paper wealth, that is the proxy for goods and services that could be used to meet peoples' needs in the present. I'm not going to argue the broader point about who is really "rich" but is this really true? My understanding is that there are ways to use assets to meet your needs without realizing capital gains. An obvious one is to borrow money with the asset as collateral, but I think there are others as well.