> I thought/think that people supporting capital markets view them as a method for companies to raise capital You are correct, people supporting capital market

> I thought/think that people supporting capital markets view them as a method for companies to raise capital You are correct, people supporting capital markets do view/promote them as a method for companies to raise capital. If you look at the data though, this turns out to be misleading. The amount of money companies raise in initial or subsequent stock offerings through the public capital markets are a fraction of what they raise through other methods. Less than 7% of corporate investment capital is raised through stock offerings. Also, this is not just the case nowadays, it has been like this since the 1940s, and even before that.