Would be useful to actually make a material distinction between investments and speculative investments. INVESTMENTS IN THE ECONOMY ARE MADE WITH THE EFFICIENT ALLOCATION IN FACTORS OF PRODUCTIONS, TO GENERATE A MATERIAL OUTPUT, GOODS AND SERVICES. THESE ARE INVESTMENTS. MATERIAL, REAL, TANGIBLE, PRODUCTS, that added all together sum up to the measure defined as GDP, or aggregate national income.
The Stock Market IS NOT an Economic Investment, but rather a SPECULATIVE INVESTMENTS. Simply because the Input is money to extract more money WITHOUT PRODUCING ANYTHING AND ADDING ANY MATERIAL PRODUCT TO THE ECONOMY.
And then somebody would say, but we built the Financial Services Industry. Fair enough, actual contracts exchanged between the underwriting parties. But still stocks are not an investment but only a SPECULATIVE INVESTMENT, even clearer that MARKET CAP can’t be utilised for investing in machineries and buying additional factors of productions, and EVEN LESS, WHEN FROM ANY BUSINESS RETAINED EARNINGS, A RACKET HAS TO BE PAID IN THE FORM OF SHAREHOLDERS’ DIVIDENDS, FOR ACTUALLY DOING ZERO! NOTHING.
So, a financial services industry has been built and generates some kind of services and added value that can be aggregated to the gross national income of any country. Well, as for all Services and Goods Transacted in the economy, ALSO STOCK EXCHANGES TRANSACTIONS Between counterparties HAS TO PAY SALES TAX, OR A TRANSACTION TAX, EXACTLY AS EVERYBODY DOES EVERY DAY EVERY TIME A TRANSACTION IN GOODS AND SERVICES IS CLEARED IN THE ECONOMY, and then Magically Billions of Dollars in Revenues will be generated and global Fiscal imbalances would be cleared and balanced.
There are distinct metrics to evaluate an economy. Sometimes there has been a question if the GDP measure can define if an economy goes or not, often this it’s a function of money supply and consumption. Easily adding money supply can show the economy grows. There are other measures to evaluate when an economy grows or not. And these are measuring the factors of production output, fixed and capital investments. Hence, has the economy in aggregate this year produced more goods and services than the past year? Actually, comparing output.
Also, has the economy in aggregate, this year made material investments in machineries, buildings expanding fixed investment and capital investment that actually add material value to a factory, an industry and likely improves the added value of the output, enhancing productivity
Also, has the economy this year, in aggregate generated surpluses, compared to the past year. Primary account surpluses, balance of trade surpluses, have savings improved. the amount of savings and capital stocks, tangible assets have improved compared the past year.
Only throwing money at stuff generates speculation and inflation and more debt. While seems that the economy grows as the aggregate amount of national income derives by money supply inflation. Can and shall we do capitalism without money? Capitalism without money is a contradiction in terms, so in itself is a phrase without any foundations. An oxymoron and an easy rhetorical artifice.
The bulk of the question would be what the economies does with the resources allocated and extracted from the economy of the planet, taking as an empirical fact that material resources are limited in their availability and quantity, and how Capitalism and the global economy can be sustainable for the planet and the animal and human species in the long term.
