[cryptica]

I suspect what is happening is that a handful of high net worth people and companies are accumulating massive hoards of cash at a loss to themselves (relative to gold, real estate...); they do it for the sole purpose of 'doing their bit' to maintain the current economic order; they're avoiding big sudden short term losses by taking on smaller but more long term continuous losses via inflation.

[arcticbull]

Do you have a citation for your claim?

Generally when large funds like Berkshire hold cash it's because they're expecting a downturn and want to snap up assets on the cheap.