A Few Hundred Dollars: What Am I Missing Here?

In today's police column of the newspaper, two items caught my eye.

One was, "Several hundred dollars were stolen from a teenage girl . . . (from her wallet in her back pocket)".

The other was, "Several Hundred dollars cash . . . in a bank envelope inside a woman's car stolen . . . at a car wash" was stolen.

SEVERAL HUNDRED DOLLARS???? Hello??? Has everyone forgotten what "Mad Money" is?

Do we really mistrust the banking system so much, that we are carrying all our savings around with us now?

Perhaps everyone's credit card is either maxed out or revoked?

You can talk about Blonde Jokes but this, well, this sort of behavior calls for a sensibility or reality check of some kind! No Blonde, Brunette, or Redhead would carry several hundred dollars in cash in her flimsy back pocket or in the glovebox at the car wash. Or would she?

I must be missing what is current in the real world out there? Last time I looked you could still buy yourself a little something with "a few hundred dollars".