is assumed that the economy consists only of capitalist production and that the capitalist economy is equal to capitalist society. But in reality this is not the case. Capitalist society contains all sorts of non-economic processes and non-capitalist processes as well. It remains a society of human beings, who have certain requirements or needs that cannot easily be met through a commercial business. And the majority of capital assets in developed capitalist countries are, even though they attract profit, not physical means of production, but financial assets or non-productive physical assets such as real estate or durables. This can be easily verified from national capital stock and asset inventory data (provided in national accounts or flow of funds tables). Physical/social distinction. Scholars often conflate the (expanded) physical reproduction of goods and services necessary for human survival with the (expanded) reproduction of capital. They assume that a certain market balance or market proportionality is essential for an equilibrium growth path. In fact, Marx never argued that capitalist society is "held together" or "balanced out" by the market itself, and he denied that equilibrium ever existed anywhere, other than as a momentary coincidence. Instead, "what held society together" was the compulsion to produce and reproduce for a living, given a system of property rights enforced by the state. Marxists call this viewpoint Marx's historical materialism. Once the basic needs of all could be met and organized capitalistically, the further development of capital accumulation could take directions quite unrelated to the direct requirements of economic reproduction. Indeed, this was also part of Marx's critique of capitalism: significant funds could be invested in ways that did not benefit society at all, with the effect that activities and assets essential to maintain society's well-being might be starved of funds. That is, within certain absolute limits, the requirements for physical reproduction and for capital accumulation might not be the same at all. Capital would be invested for profit, but basic necessities might be ignored. An example might be the 2007–2008 world food price crisis, which indicates that insufficient capital has been invested in food production. This might seem strange, since food is a basic requirement of human life. But, as Marx would presumably argue, what makes a profit is not necessarily what people really need, and therefore the possibility exists that profit making may undermine the most basic conditions for economic reproduction, including the supply of