IDK, Berkshire Hathaway sure has a big stockpile of cash, and they're emblematic of capitalism. The cash in this model would be considered a "dead cost", as it'

IDK, Berkshire Hathaway sure has a big stockpile of cash, and they're emblematic of capitalism. The cash in this model would be considered a "dead cost", as it's "wasted" by not being immediately invested in equities. I agree with you, in general, that the short-term incentives of our system encourage "optimization" away from stockpiling inputs, and that this is a worrying problem. But I find it instructive to focus on and give credit to the long-term thinkers who buck those trends – and who have historically profited and persisted by doing so, by the way.