--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: If all money capital invests in…" description: "\"If all money capital invests in appropriation and none in actual production, then capitalism is not long for this world.\" — David Harvey" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f81/david-harvey-10654_appropriation_if-all-money-capital-invests-in-appropri_2929014.png" --- # If all money capital invests in appropriation and none in… ![“If all money capital invests in appropriation and none in actual production, then capitalism is not long for this world.” quote by David Harvey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f81/david-harvey-10654_appropriation_if-all-money-capital-invests-in-appropri_2929014.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f81/david-harvey-10654_appropriation_if-all-money-capital-invests-in-appropri_2929014.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f81/david-harvey-10654_appropriation_if-all-money-capital-invests-in-appropri_2929014.png) > “If all money capital invests in appropriation and none in actual production, then capitalism is not long for this world.” [David Harvey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-harvey/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Capital that only extracts value without creating new goods is unsustainable, leading to capitalism's decline. **In simple terms:** Capital that doesn't produce will fail. Key Takeaway Invest in real production. Themes economics capitalism sustainability Mood critical analytical Type theoretical critical When to use this quote - policy making - business strategy - investment decisions Key Concepts value extraction production systemic risk Questions to Reflect On - How can we shift investment toward production? - What are the risks of over‑extraction? A Different Perspective Capital may persist through adaptation. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Appropriation](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/appropriation/) [Capitalism](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/capitalism/) [Economics](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/economics/) [Investing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/investing/) [Money](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/money/) [World](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/world/) ## Related quotes > [There is, in short, no 'spatial fix' that can contain the contradictions of capitalism in the long run.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-harvey/there-is-in-short-no-spatial-fix-that-can-contain-the-contradictions/) [David Harvey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-harvey/) > [Money is not capital in most of the developing countries. It's just cash. Because it lacks the institutional, organizational, managerial forms to turn it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ashraf-ghani/money-is-not-capital-in-most-of-the-developing-countries-it-s-just/) [Ashraf Ghani](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ashraf-ghani/) > [Capital is money, capital is commodities. By virtue of it being value, it has acquired the occult ability to add value to itself. It…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-marx/capital-is-money-capital-is-commodities-by-virtue-of-it-being-value/) [Karl Marx](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-marx/) > [I believe in capitalism as long as there's a strong rule of law around it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pete-buttigieg/i-believe-in-capitalism-as-long-as-there-s-a-strong-rule-of-law/) [Pete Buttigieg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pete-buttigieg/) > [Capitalism had arisen through the misuse and exaggeration of certain rights, notably the right of property - the basis of economic freedom - and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hilaire-belloc/capitalism-had-arisen-through-the-misuse-and-exaggeration-of-certain/) [Hilaire Belloc](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hilaire-belloc/) > [This is what happens under capitalism - as long as corporations and the super rich own the economy and the politicians, every new generation…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kshama-sawant/this-is-what-happens-under-capitalism-as-long-as-corporations-and-the/) [Kshama Sawant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kshama-sawant/) > [I propose in the following discussion to call one's own labor, and the equivalent exchange of one's own labor for the labor of others,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/franz-oppenheimer/i-propose-in-the-following-discussion-to-call-one-s-own-labor-and-the/) Franz Oppenheimer > [I'm not tied to the news cycle. I can do an episode on cultural appropriation, not on Rachel Dolezal. We might make a joke…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/moshe-kasher/i-m-not-tied-to-the-news-cycle-i-can-do-an-episode-on-cultural/) [Moshe Kasher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/moshe-kasher/) > [I can find no warrant for such an appropriation in the Constitution, and I do not believe that the power and duty of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/grover-cleveland/i-can-find-no-warrant-for-such-an-appropriation-in-the-constitution/) [Grover Cleveland](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/grover-cleveland/) > [Feminist pedagogy can only be liberatory if it is truly revolutionary because the mechanisms of appropriation within white supremacist, capitalist patriarchy are able to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bell-hooks/feminist-pedagogy-can-only-be-liberatory-if-it-is-truly-revolutionary/) [Bell Hooks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bell-hooks/) > [As chairman of the Senate subcommittee responsible for NASA appropriations, I say not a penny for this nutty fantasy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-proxmire/as-chairman-of-the-senate-subcommittee-responsible-for-nasa/) [William Proxmire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-proxmire/) > [Here one must think profoundly to the very basis and resist all sentimental weakness: life itself is essentially appropriation, injury, conquest of the strange…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/here-one-must-think-profoundly-to-the-very-basis-and-resist-all/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [“What you have now then is the marketing of racialized identities as tools for consumption. And certain racialized bodies and images are associated with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amalia-mesa-bains/what-you-have-now-then-is-the-marketing-of-racialized-identities-as/) Amalia Mesa-Bains > [We have some of the most influential Members of Congress here today, and I do hope that we can get this appropriation for these…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-f-kennedy/we-have-some-of-the-most-influential-members-of-congress-here-today/) [John F. Kennedy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-f-kennedy/) > [What would America be like if we loved black people as much as we loved black culture?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amandla-stenberg/what-would-america-be-like-if-we-loved-black-people-as-much-as-we/) [Amandla Stenberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amandla-stenberg/) ## More by David Harvey > [The main substantive achievement of neoliberalism has been to redistribute rather than to generate wealth and income.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-harvey/the-main-substantive-achievement-of-neoliberalism-has-been-to/) [David Harvey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-harvey/) > [We're supposed to live under capitalism, and capitalism is supposed to be competitive so you would expect that capitalists and entrepreneurs would like competition.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-harvey/we-re-supposed-to-live-under-capitalism-and-capitalism-is-supposed-to/) [David Harvey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-harvey/) > [There is, in short, no 'spatial fix' that can contain the contradictions of capitalism in the long run.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-harvey/there-is-in-short-no-spatial-fix-that-can-contain-the-contradictions/) [David Harvey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-harvey/) > [The social relations of capitalism have penetrated slowly into all spheres of life to make wage labour the general condition of existence only in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-harvey/the-social-relations-of-capitalism-have-penetrated-slowly-into-all/) [David Harvey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-harvey/) > [If Occupy Wall Street can see their way to more collaboration with the union movement, then there will be a great deal of political…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-harvey/if-occupy-wall-street-can-see-their-way-to-more-collaboration-with/) [David Harvey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-harvey/) > [“This left, which strangely echoes a libertarian and even neoliberal ethic of ant-statism, is nurtured intellectually by thinkers such as Michel Foucault and all…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-harvey/this-left-which-strangely-echoes-a-libertarian-and-even-neoliberal/) [David Harvey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-harvey/) > [If, for example, a conspiratorially minded elite is so powerful, has at its fingertips such multiple and delicate instruments with which to fine-tune accumulation,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-harvey/if-for-example-a-conspiratorially-minded-elite-is-so-powerful-has-at/) [David Harvey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-harvey/) > [The equilibrium between supply and demand is achieved only through a reaction against the upsetting of the equilibrium.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-harvey/the-equilibrium-between-supply-and-demand-is-achieved-only-through-a/) [David Harvey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-harvey/) > [“In urbanisation, the suburbs are just as monocultural (as agriculture), with a lifestyle that maximises the excessive consumption of material goods in an astonishingly…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-harvey/in-urbanisation-the-suburbs-are-just-as-monocultural-as-agriculture/) [David Harvey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-harvey/) > [“Since the 1970S, financial innova­tions such as the securitisation of mortgage debt and the spreading of investment risks through the creation of derivative markets,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-harvey/since-the-1970s-financial-innova-tions-such-as-the-securitisation-of/) [David Harvey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-harvey/) > [The only solution to the contradictions of capitalism entails the abolition of wage labour.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-harvey/the-only-solution-to-the-contradictions-of-capitalism-entails-the/) [David Harvey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-harvey/) > [The accumulation of capital involves the expansion of value over time.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-harvey/the-accumulation-of-capital-involves-the-expansion-of-value-over-time/) [David Harvey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-harvey/) > [Monetary relations have penetrated into every nook and cranny of the world and into almost every aspect of social, even private life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-harvey/monetary-relations-have-penetrated-into-every-nook-and-cranny-of-the/) [David Harvey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-harvey/) > [The net worth of the 358 richest people in the world was then found to be 'equal to the combined income of the poorest…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-harvey/the-net-worth-of-the-358-richest-people-in-the-world-was-then-found/) [David Harvey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-harvey/) > [Not only must weapons be bought and paid for out of surpluses of capital and labour, but they must also be put to use.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-harvey/not-only-must-weapons-be-bought-and-paid-for-out-of-surpluses-of/) [David Harvey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-harvey/) [Explore all 63 David Harvey quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-harvey/) ## More Appropriation quotes > [What would America be like if we loved black people as much as we loved black culture?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amandla-stenberg/what-would-america-be-like-if-we-loved-black-people-as-much-as-we/) [Amandla Stenberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amandla-stenberg/) > [We have some of the most influential Members of Congress here today, and I do hope that we can get this appropriation for these…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-f-kennedy/we-have-some-of-the-most-influential-members-of-congress-here-today/) [John F. Kennedy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-f-kennedy/) > [“What you have now then is the marketing of racialized identities as tools for consumption. And certain racialized bodies and images are associated with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amalia-mesa-bains/what-you-have-now-then-is-the-marketing-of-racialized-identities-as/) Amalia Mesa-Bains > [Here one must think profoundly to the very basis and resist all sentimental weakness: life itself is essentially appropriation, injury, conquest of the strange…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/here-one-must-think-profoundly-to-the-very-basis-and-resist-all/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [As chairman of the Senate subcommittee responsible for NASA appropriations, I say not a penny for this nutty fantasy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-proxmire/as-chairman-of-the-senate-subcommittee-responsible-for-nasa/) [William Proxmire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-proxmire/) > [Feminist pedagogy can only be liberatory if it is truly revolutionary because the mechanisms of appropriation within white supremacist, capitalist patriarchy are able to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bell-hooks/feminist-pedagogy-can-only-be-liberatory-if-it-is-truly-revolutionary/) [Bell Hooks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bell-hooks/) > [I can find no warrant for such an appropriation in the Constitution, and I do not believe that the power and duty of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/grover-cleveland/i-can-find-no-warrant-for-such-an-appropriation-in-the-constitution/) [Grover Cleveland](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/grover-cleveland/) > [I'm not tied to the news cycle. I can do an episode on cultural appropriation, not on Rachel Dolezal. We might make a joke…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/moshe-kasher/i-m-not-tied-to-the-news-cycle-i-can-do-an-episode-on-cultural/) [Moshe Kasher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/moshe-kasher/) > [I propose in the following discussion to call one's own labor, and the equivalent exchange of one's own labor for the labor of others,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/franz-oppenheimer/i-propose-in-the-following-discussion-to-call-one-s-own-labor-and-the/) Franz Oppenheimer > [“The postmodern notion of "appropriation" is not a good fit. In New Mexico, the "indigenous" is a syncretic fusion of Native American and Hispano…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lucy-r-lippard/the-postmodern-notion-of-appropriation-is-not-a-good-fit-in-new/) [Lucy R. Lippard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lucy-r-lippard/) > [If you want to talk about cultural appropriation, we have to go back to the Greeks.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frances-mcdormand/if-you-want-to-talk-about-cultural-appropriation-we-have-to-go-back/) [Frances McDormand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frances-mcdormand/) > [Translation is not appropriation, as is sometimes claimed; it is a form of listening that then changes how you speak.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eliot-weinberger/translation-is-not-appropriation-as-is-sometimes-claimed-it-is-a-form/) [Eliot Weinberger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eliot-weinberger/) > [“The alternative to appropriation is a world in which artists only reference their own cultures." "That's an oversimplification of the issue." "The alternative to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gabrielle-zevin/the-alternative-to-appropriation-is-a-world-in-which-artists-only/) [Gabrielle Zevin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gabrielle-zevin/) > [There are two methods, or means, and only two, whereby man's needs and desires can be satisfied. One is the production and exchange of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/albert-j-nock/there-are-two-methods-or-means-and-only-two-whereby-man-s-needs-and/) [Albert J. Nock](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/albert-j-nock/) > [“Even you, the professional helper, often mistaken for the enlightened Guru or Staretz, can become lost in your thoughts that you must be competent…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/scott-e-spradlin/even-you-the-professional-helper-often-mistaken-for-the-enlightened/) Scott E. Spradlin [Browse all 108 Appropriation quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/appropriation/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "If all money capital invests in appropriation and none in actual production, then capitalism is not long for this world.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "David Harvey" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-harvey/if-all-money-capital-invests-in-appropriation-and-none-in-actual/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Appropriation" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-harvey/if-all-money-capital-invests-in-appropriation-and-none-in-actual/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f81/david-harvey-10654_appropriation_if-all-money-capital-invests-in-appropri_2929014.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f81/david-harvey-10654_appropriation_if-all-money-capital-invests-in-appropri_2929014.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f81/david-harvey-10654_appropriation_if-all-money-capital-invests-in-appropri_2929014.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“If all money capital invests in appropriation and none in actual production, then capitalism is not long for…” — David Harvey", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "David Harvey", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-harvey/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "If all money capital invests in...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-harvey/if-all-money-capital-invests-in-appropriation-and-none-in-actual/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-harvey/if-all-money-capital-invests-in-appropriation-and-none-in-actual/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```