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> Money is an abstraction of reputation and honor

Not in every part of the world. In many places, the dominant culture assumes people got rich by cheating and stealing. Which doesn't mean rich people aren't courted -- money's attractive in and of itself; but they don't get much true respect by default.

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Where is this place?

Sure checks out for my whereabouts in Eastern Europe... And it’s not just USSR legacy. It was there for a looong time since feudal era.

In my country (New Zealand), while we wouldn’t expect that wealth necessarily came from cheating and stealing, the idea of money as “abstraction of reputation and honor” would be foreign to most, I think. For example, while there were some Trump supporters here, I think nearly everyone was confused about the assumption that his personal wealth implied anything about his worth or worthiness.

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