&gt; <i>So nobody really knows what to do about a capital glut and a demand shortage.</i><p>Sure they do.  The concept of &quot;Unlimited Wants&quot; and Thorstein Veblen&#x27;s &quot;Pecuniary Canons of Taste&quot; pretty much wrap up a capital glut.  Spend it.  Money flows somewhere.  A demand shortage is not necessarily permanent (horse carriages vs automobiles withstanding)...that&#x27;s one of the many reasons why the word pivot exists in YC vernacular.  Everyone&#x2F;everything living consumes.  There are demands that are fundamental, and demands that are extraordinary.  A market exists for all demands, no matter how small or how large.  Demands = needs small or great.  If you are selling buggy whips in the automobile age, yeah, you might have a demand shortage...so think and pivot.  Absolutes have a place in extremum; an exercise left to the reader.