Don't think about the money. Money flows in one direction, but corporate decisions, organization of resources, manufacturing activity -- real physical flows, energy flows, mass flows -- move opposite. What "finance" really is is improving allocation of those real resources, and then skimming a little bit off of the improvement. Fundamentally, money is a signal for the expenditure of energy. The flow of money, the signal, can be analyzed and applied optimally to improve the expenditure of energy.
If the world's production capacity is a giant muscle, finance is like the brain. Spending 20 watts of brainpower to move a 100 watt muscle in the right way can be hugely effective, far more effective than a 1000 watt muscle with 5 watts of brain.
This is really what finance does. They improve the movement of the muscle.
If the world's production capacity is a giant muscle, finance is like the brain. Spending 20 watts of brainpower to move a 100 watt muscle in the right way can be hugely effective, far more effective than a 1000 watt muscle with 5 watts of brain.
This is really what finance does. They improve the movement of the muscle.