And cash-rich companies may refrain from multibillion-dollar acquisitions because of fears that the deals will drain capital reserves.
Knight later had to sell the stocks at a loss of more than $4oo million, draining capital and pushing it to the brink of collapse.
Deficits are now considered growth-sapping, draining capital from the private sector, pushing up interest rates and creating uncertainty on Wall Street.
One would think that Mr. Romney would embrace this huge deficit reduction and say, "Bring it on!" After all, his party has long asserted that deficits drain capital from the economy that would better be put to use by the private sector.
But others argue that officials had always intended to create a vibrant state sector that would tower above the private sector in important industries, even as they sold off or shut down money-losing state enterprises that drained capital from the government budget and banking system.
"Over the last eight years of the Clinton-Gore administration," Mr. Lieberman said, "we have come to understand that what we can do begins with being fiscally responsible, that when government balances its books, it not only stops draining capital out of the markets because it's in hock, but it creates a sense of confidence generally, and that is one of the conditions for growth".
All of these costs drain capital that could be used to grow your business, expand into a new sector or territory or develop new products.
Woods writes that the longer Wall Street banks are subsidized, "the more they drain capital and resources away from fundamentally sound firms that could put those resources to much more productive use from the consumers' point of view.
Major drains include capital flight, illicit economic activity, corruption and assets stolen as a result of the Kabul Bank fraud.
Larger companies are facing requirements to restore depleted pension-fund assets, a need that drains away capital.
