Wasteful investment would be something like - in this context - to being fooled by the fake/distorted market signals being sent out stemming from supply manipulation and more generally interventionism.

This causes you to misallocate capital, which eventually, when the musical chairs stops, causes you to lose your capital.

You were chasing the wrong thing, fooled by echoes and distortions.

Scarce honest monies which can't be manipulated result in your purchasing power naturally increasing over time (against a backdrop of technological development and inflating fake fiat).

Because of that, you think twice before spending, and this makes you wiser and more careful and thoughtful in your financial decisions.

But, much like the computer example I also gave earlier, eventually you do end up spending nevertheless.

The difference? It was more deliberate, more thoughtful, more measured.

And that's a good thing!

You act like all deflation is bad, but it’s about what it encourages: investing only in what outperforms just holding hard money.

"Wasteful" is backing losers that can’t beat that bar. You dismiss Bitcoin’s hard cap as a “knee-jerk reaction” — which just shows you haven’t engaged with the idea, not that it’s wrong. It’s a mark of intelligence to entertain a thought without accepting it. You can’t even do that.

Your issue isn’t nuance — it’s letting go of the fiat mindset you’re clinging to.