That‘s why capitalism is called ‘capitalism‘. Capitalism distin-guishes ‘capital from mere ‘wealth’. Capital consists of money, goodsand resources that are invested in production. Wealth, on the otherhand, is buried in the ground or wasted on unproductive activities.
A pharaoh who pours resources into a non-productive pyramid isnot a capitalist. A pirate who loots a Spanish treasure fleet and buriesa chest full of glittering coins on the beach of some Caribbean islandis not a capitalist. But a hard-working factory hand who reinvestspartof his income in the stock market is. - P312
Over the last few years, banks and governments have been fren-ziedly printing money. Everybody is terrified that the currenteconomic crisis may stop the growth of the economy. So they are cre-ating trillions of dollars, euros and yen out of thin air, pumping cheapcredit into the system, and hoping that the scientists, technicians andengineers will manage to come up with something really big, beforethe bubble bursts. Everything depends on the people in the labs. Newdiscoveries in fields such as biotechnology andartificial intelligencecould create entire new industries, whose profits could back the tril-lions of make-believe money that the banks and governments havecreated since 2008. If the labs do not fulfil these expectations beforethe bubble bursts, we are heading towards very rough times. - P315