01
Let’s talk about a new word today: patient capital.
The Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee held a meeting on April 30. According to the draft issued by the meeting, the central government has made many future-oriented work arrangements for future economic development. One of the particularly eye-catching statements is: to actively develop venture capital. , strengthen patient capital.
Looking at the direction of public opinion, it is probably the first time in recent years that "venture capital" has been included in such an important meeting draft, while "patient capital" is a new term that has appeared in the public eye for the first time.
02
So the question is, what is patient capital? A friend in the
group joked: "Patient capital, I understand it is to ask GPs to do LP work. Don't always want to quit these troublesome things, just extend!"
I have not found an official explanation. Folks take it literally and understand it as investing in the long term and not just focusing on short-term capital gains.
capital obviously needs to be repaid. How can we make it patient? Either, long-term expectations can allow it to obtain higher returns; or, policies can allow capital to mix the short and long term with peace of mind.
patient capital needs to be matched with a patient policy.
03
The good news is that this meeting seems to show that the central government basically agrees with the value of "capital". Since our country in the primary stage of socialism adheres to an economic system in which public ownership is the mainstay and multiple economic ownerships develop together, under this institutional framework, as an important factor of production, there have been many opinions on what attributes capital should have.
Judging from the official discourse system and the ecology of private public opinion in recent years, "capital" has mostly negative attributes. The public tends to believe that capital, especially foreign capital, is gradually eroding China's economic structure, causing many social problems and shaking some people's views on it. Identity with the economic system has triggered a social trend of "focusing on money" at all costs. The strong pursuit of profit distracts the public's ideology and is not conducive to social stability and unity.
The public outcry against "capital" has been massive and continuous in the past few years.
When Li Ka-shing withdrew his capital, people shouted: "Don't let Li Ka-shing get away."
When Pan Shiyi sold out, people shouted: "Don't let Pan Shiyi get away."
People's hatred of rich people became more and more intense under the influence of public opinion, and the result was that capital became more and more The faster you run, the more you run.
04
Everything must be viewed dialectically. What has capital brought to social and economic development? Is it just a negative effect?
capital must be profit-seeking. If it cannot make a profit, the company will not be able to pay wages to its employees, nor will it be able to expand reproduction and bring more jobs and social wealth.
People often see entrepreneurs sitting on the luxury of hundreds of millions of dollars, but never pay attention to their struggle process of starting from scratch, facing obstacles and overcoming obstacles. In fact, only by constantly and repeatedly trying and failing can individuals achieve financial success in a complex social environment. And his success often means numerous employment opportunities brought about by cooperation and division of labor.
However, today’s capital is very uneasy. People with capital are neither willing to invest nor have the patience. The kind of “expansion investment” during the period of economic development has disappeared. This reduces the liquidity of currency, thereby affecting the healthy operation of the economic situation.
05
This reminds me of a story I have read before: At the beginning of the reform and opening up, there was a village that found that the trees in the village never grew big, and the saplings that had just stood were cut down by the villagers.
For this reason, the village cadres decided to distribute these trees to each household. However, after they were divided, they found that they were cut down very quickly.
The village cadre thought: If this doesn’t work, let’s take it back. After
was taken back to the collective, it was cut again.
is planted again and chopped again.
goes back and forth like this, but the tree never grows big. On the contrary, the trees in the villagers' yards grew lush and leafy.
Why do the villagers cut down small trees regardless of whether they are included in the package or not? Because they felt that the village would soon take back the tree, so it was better to cut it down first. After
was cut, it was indeed withdrawn, which verified a "prophecy".Thus, a bizarre vicious cycle formed.
To break this cycle, we must first stabilize the policy and be patient.
06
There is an old saying in our hometown in Shanxi: "No one loves me, everyone."
People are selfish. Unless their own father is the premise of raising and loving themselves, children will naturally respect him.
But if this "I" is not my own, but the father of many people, then his emotions and support do not belong to me, but to "everyone". At this time, if I go to be filial to him, I may be doing things for others. Just ignore it, since "everyone" is in charge.
07
To put it bluntly, to mobilize people's subjective initiative, we must respect the entrepreneurial spirit and respect private property. Affirming the value of wealth means affirming entrepreneurship, which means protecting individually owned property within the legal framework.
Just imagine, if a person finds that he cannot own or master the fruits of his hard work, then he will have no other ideals and motivation to strive except eating as much as possible at the moment, just like now The "Liping" tribe and Buddhist youths do nothing and just let everything happen. This will inevitably lead to a sluggish social atmosphere, disengaged people and idle resources.
On the contrary, when people can actually enjoy the fruits of their labor, they will naturally try their best to improve their living conditions, find resources, build relationships, and seek innovation. They not only hope to ensure daily necessities such as food, clothing, housing, and transportation, but will even pursue health, entertainment, and other more High-level demand will in turn promote consumption, expand social production possibilities, and promote economic development and wealth growth.
Wealth and investment are twins. There is no wealth without investment, but for the private economy, investment is an act of caution, repeated inspection and measurement. No one is willing to take out the money in their pockets if they see that their money invested is wasted.
In other words, the most important decision-making behavior in investment is risk awareness and calculating the balance between input and output. In a seller's market with a good business environment and strong demand, investment is often a very active business behavior. On the contrary, when demand is weak and environmental risk uncertainty is high, people will become conservative and would rather save money than take risks.
08
develop "venture capital" and strengthen "patient capital". To put it bluntly, we encourage people to invest and create conditions for these investments to become capital for resilient and sustainable development. To develop venture capital, investors need to feel that risks are controllable; to strengthen patient capital, it is necessary to have long-term protection policies for capital.
We know that over the past 40 years of reform and opening up, the private economy has created huge social value and provided 70% of employment. Social development is characterized by continuity and inertia, and drastic or even inconsistent policy actions should be avoided as much as possible.
The path of economic development is complex and changeable. It is formed by numerous closed loops and chains formed by countless economies linking to each other in intensive interactions and relationships, adapting to each other, and constantly developing. Once one point or line goes wrong, It will affect the overall situation, and recovery will require more time and greater costs.
To develop "risk investment" and strengthen "patient capital", it is necessary to protect the private economy in the economic system and allow the private economy to develop healthily in a healthier and more flexible social space.
09
The outlet for patience is here?
