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Comment by jjgreen | Hacker News Reader

"Paper money" is such a strange expression to use here: it's inaccurate (because coins) and much longer than the obvious word, cash.

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In the context of the WSJ, cash doesn't mean physical currency. It just means dollars, i.e. not treasuries or any other type of asset. Most people would interpret that headline differently -- to the point of it being inaccurate.

[edit: also the wordplay wouldn't work]

I'd never heard of that before, interesting, thanks; Rich people speak a foreign language ...

It's also used in other contexts, e.g. cash vs. stock compensation (and I wouldn't necessarily call everybody offered that choice "rich" these days).

I would. People in the tech bubble don't understand their privilege. If everybody you interact with daily makes less than you then you are rich. Or how does you total compensation compare to that of the Walmart worker, the guy behind the McD counter, you hair dresser, the lady cleaning your office toilets or the waiter at your lunch restaurant or staffer at the bouldering gym? You think they get stocks?

I make nearly 300k a year and I can’t afford a house. I’m upper middle class at best. That’s an order of magnitude away from wealthy.

I seriously doubt that. I might bot be able to afford the exact house you most desire in the exact location that you desire. But if you restrict the definition of "rich" to only include people that can, then it's a very odd set that's left. I'm sure Elon desires a house on Mars, and he can't afford that either.

You don’t know me or my situation. Houses in Seattle are upwards of 750k for something that isn’t a fixer-upper. And if a house meeds work that’s even more money. Being able to “afford” something is more than having the cash to buy it or credit to finance it.

There’s a huge difference between being rich (or wealthy, not the same) and simply having more than someone else.

True, I don't know you, but you've now given some information to work with. With a 300k income, you should be able to put away 50k a year without problem. That's a 20% downpayment after 3 years for a 750k house. (If you can't save 50k a year then that's because of lifestyle choices like what car you drive, when and how much you eat out and where you go on vacation. That's fine, but your choice, so don't complain.)

> There’s a huge difference between being rich (or wealthy, not the same) and simply having more than someone else.

No. That's basically the definitions of those concepts. They are relative to how well off everybody else is.

Yes, I could penny pinch to buy a house for an exorbitant sum. That also contributes to increasing housing prices. Or I can keep renting and saving for retirement. The fact is tech salaries are actually modest and everyone else is getting really screwed. The idea that tech workers are villains only plays into the hands of the truly wealthy.

It’s any investor, not only the rich ones. Typically includes things like very short duration bonds (like t-bills).

That usage is not unique to rich people.

"cash" in your pocket is central bank money. Current president keeps the dead presidents good (in theory). In the bank it is merely a promise of money.

Cash can (arguably) mean paper money but there is often a distinction made in capital markets - physical cash is for retail banks.

An applied example of a cash position in finance is repo: You need some short term cash - a simple hack financial markets use to do this in an administrative/credit efficient way is to simply sell (say) a bond (the collateral), receive some money (your cash), then agree to buy the bond back tomorrow for slightly more than you sold it for (the interest rate).

Ok, we've replaced the article title with a bit of its subtitle (edit: plus a representative phrase from the main text).

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