SG: Money is basically how we store up all our labor. We work for a living and receive something in return for that work--money. We save some of this stuff and even "compound" it thru that other miracle. Then, when we retire, we unwind all that storage material--money--it is returned to the world to provide us with the goods and services that we need. We buy some property, add some value to it, then sell it for a higher price--more money for us. That's one fundamental way the world has always worked. Pre-retirement is storage mode; retirement is distribution mode. All done with money. Or beans
Adding value to something by just flipping it, kind of like during the tulip craze, can't last very long--and it bears similarities to our current RE bubble. Oh boy, free money: buy a house, hold a house, sell a house. One could call such things "bubbles in process"--in a general, vague sort of way, when people start making money without putting much effort or thought into it.