Mark Spitznagel On Confusing Means With Ends

Authored by Mark Spitznagel, Founder of Universa Investments, originally appearing in Forbes The Role Of Capital Has Politicians Confused The nonchalance with which politicians on both sides of the aisle discuss ever higher taxes as the solution to our endless budgetary ills is emblematic of a widespread and consequential misunderstanding of capital. Indeed, those who claim that higher taxes bring prosperity miss the point entirely. That is, they mistake means for ends. You see, capital is not ends; capital is means. Capital is not what humans strive for, the triumphant reward of our material aims. Rather, it is what we strive with, the intermediate tool by which we attain those aims. It is the means of higher output per unit of input (bringing our species from its hand-to-mouth past to the present), whereby, when paired with more inputs - among which is labor - we get greater economic ...