The same is true of those shops that may be found in the metropolis which, in direct contrast to stores that advertise bargains, smugly boast that they have the highest prices. Thus they imply that their customers are the Best People—those who do not ask about prices. But the noteworthy fact is that they do not emphasize what really matters—the quality of their merchandise. Thus they unconsciously do place money above all else, albeit with a reversal of value. Because of its close association with money, a spendthrift's lust easily grows to a monstrous extent and robs its victim of all reasonable sense of proportion. For money lacks the regulation that human capacity imposes on concrete objects. This is exactly the same immoderation that characterizes miserly avarice. The pure potentiality which it seeks instead of the enjoyment of real objects tends toward the infinite.

XREF: Connects to Gresham's law and modern debates about currency debasement and inflation.

Georg Simmel, on individuality and social…, loc. 458