I thought this was an interesting point made by Piketty, that so many people not only are without wealth themselves, but have so little exposure to anyone who is, it makes of wealth something other-worldly and mysterious. One could imagine that this is why various conspiracy theories involving wealth and the wealthy arise. (Capital in the Twenty-first Century, Thomas Picketty, trans. Arthur Goldhammer, pp.259.:)
“For this half of the population, the very notions of wealth and capital are relatively abstract. For millions of people, ‘wealth’ amounts to little more than a few weeks’ wages in a checking account or low-interest savings account, a car, and a few pieces of furniture. The inescapable reality is this: wealth is so concentrated that a large segment of society is virtually unaware of its existence, so that some people imagine that it belongs to surreal or mysterious entities. That is why it is so essential to study capital and its distribution in a methodical, systematic way.”
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