Have you noticed? In China, you can take out loans to buy a home, buy a car, start a business and run a shop—you can even pre-spend for a “pinhao” meal costing 9 yuan in advance. But when a person gets sick and urgently needs life-saving treatment, it becomes very hard to get support through the financial system.…

Behind this lies a deeper issue: the market and capital have their own operating logic. They will prioritize areas that can generate returns and create value, and that in itself is not wrong. But a society cannot hand all problems over to the market to solve. The market pursues efficiency, while the system has the responsibility to ensure fairness and provide safeguards.

In sectors like healthcare, education, and elderly care, these are, in essence, not ordinary consumption, but basic survival needs. If a society only emphasizes commercial efficiency but lacks institutional protection for basic livelihoods, then ultimately the risk is often borne by ordinary individuals.

So what really needs to be discussed is not whether capital should exist, but whether the system assumes the responsibilities it should take on. In a mature society, markets should create wealth, and institutions should protect the bottom line.

Recognizing this is not meant to deny business, but to understand the operating rules of the world: business drives growth, and the system provides protection. For individuals, true growth is seeing the rules clearly, then improving one’s own capabilities, resources, and options.