by Naresh Jotwani

The surplus capital of any healthy society should, in theory, energize the economy, and enable the society to face present and likely future challenges. In the process, the surplus capital generates both consumption and employment. A king, for example, may build a dam, a road or a fort; a rich man may build a school. In all such ‘traditional’ cases, the nominal owner of the capital is directly involved in seeing that the capital is deployed beneficially.

This basic concept of surplus capital is neither new nor complicated. Over the last few centuries, however, several cunning ‘advances’ on this basic concept have, in effect, turned the concept on its head. Incredibly, surplus capital now adds not to the well-being but to the exploitation of a society!