> They're both abstract made up units that happened to be even on a random scale
They are salable assets with a price that people are willing to pay to acquire them. It is no more abstract than a hypothetical report on how a house in New York City is now worth less than a house in Wichita. Numerology implies some kind of mystical force. This is simply observation of measured human behaviour.
Not really, because we have a sense of how big a house should be. With outliers, it's a building large enough to house a single household. Houses in a given area will be within one order of magnitude in their prices.
It's more like saying "a building in New York is now worth less than a business headquartered in Wichita".
> It's more like saying "a building in New York is now worth less than a business headquartered in Wichita".
Sure. There's no difference. A salable asset is a salable asset is a salable asset. They are all freely traded amongst each other. You can trade that business in Wichita to acquire the building in New York (along with some extras to reach parity in the transaction), just as you can trade your USD to acquire EUR (with some extras to reach parity in the transaction). If two assets have value parity, the trade can take place without any extras.
Comparisons of similar assets (currencies in different countries, houses in different cities) tends to be more interesting for reporting, though. If you are vacationing in a different country you're probably not going to trade your house for the foreign currency. You're typically going to trade your own locale's currency. Likewise, if you're moving to another city, you're probably going to trade your house in your origin city for one in the destination city, not your collection of comic books.
You could trade your house for foreign currency needed while on vacation and your comic book collection for a house when you move to New York City, but it is not nearly as common as trading similar assets when moving about the world. The media needs to attract a wide audience, so common behaviour is significant. Unfortunately, the beloved Comic Book Collector's Homebuying Guide Weekly didn't find the readership necessary to remain in business.
They are salable assets with a price that people are willing to pay to acquire them. It is no more abstract than a hypothetical report on how a house in New York City is now worth less than a house in Wichita. Numerology implies some kind of mystical force. This is simply observation of measured human behaviour.