Prosperity through investment

The prosperity of a country depends upon the collective ability of its citizens to tell the difference between an expenditure and an investment.

If the citizens are trained to expend without consequence, to lack skill at making small investments, and to discount or disparage the need to tell the difference between expense and capital outlays, then the country will gradually dissipate itself and never understand why it is suffering as it does so.

[Update on 11/1/11:

I really should have pointed out this article, which goes into more detail about what it means to make personal investments when spending money.]