Broadly it means that when the dollar weakens such that the price of gold spikes, what is limited capital seeks safe-haven in hard, unproductive assets like gold, oil, art and property.

But the activity of property speculation and the sale of dwellings are just as unproductive and incapable of creating wealth as any other exchange of commodities.

Citing John Stuart Mill, they advocate rebalancing taxation away from earned income towards unproductive assets, notably the wealth generated by the long property boom.