A portion is siphoned off for personal use by capitalists, to furnish extravagant lifestyles with excessive salaries and bonuses.

Some surplus value is simply thrown away, eliminated through waste, wars, and so-called international “aid.” The latter two also function as centers for creating even more profit, which they are compelled to pursue, but which also exacerbates the overall problem.

They desperately ramp up the level of consumption with infusions of credit, basing the consumer economy on debt. They issue loans like crazy, knowing they can’t ever all be paid off. Of course this creates bubbles and instability, which grow progressively worse.