I was once an American Studies teacher, and also spent a lot of academic hours on literary analysis. Your blog intersects both of those areas. One of the reasons I'm interested in the blockchain, in decentralized currency, is because I'm aware of the many financial crises of the past. Not just in the US--across the world, throughout history. The concept of money is very abstract--trust is ephemeral. Once trust is gone, so is the value of money. I'm not convinced The Wizard of Oz is meant to be the kind of literal analogy that some suggest, but this is an interesting way to grab the attention of students, and the general public. Kudos for a fascinating post and for asking readers to think about the basis of currency.