Some of the capital goods may become absolutely useless, and all expenditure made in their production appears now as waste. Finally there are also capital goods which can be employed for the new project just as well as for the original one. It would hardly be necessary to mention these obvious facts if it were not essential to refute popular misconceptions. There is no such thing as an abstract or ideal capital that exists apart from concrete capital goods. The value of an amount of capital is a derivative of the value of the capital goods in which it is embodied.
Capital is always in the form of definite capital goods.
These capital goods are better utilizable for some purposes, less utilizable for others, and absolutely useless for still other purposes. Every unit of capital is therefore in some way of other fixed capital, i.e., dedicated to definite processes of production. The businessman's distinction between fixed capital and circulating capital is a difference of degree, not of kind. Everything that is valid with regard to fixed capital is also valid, although to a smaller degree, with regard to circulating capital. All capital goods have a more or less specific character.