BreadAndCircuses: When Rainer said "a variant of show me the money" he intended that it was a "functional equivalent". Both would accomplish the desired effect. 

That’s right. “Show me the money” ultimately means that the money is in the bank account and on the books and the numbers are published. But it could also mean anything else that conveys a sufficiently high degree of confidence that the money will come in at a later point in time – will come in, not might come in.