[nybble41]

I suspect you may have intended to reply to a different comment, but since you're here…

> The fallacy here is assuming that capital is finite over all time.

Capital is "finite"—as opposed to "infinite", "unlimited", "superabundant"—but I agree that it isn't fixed. There is no law of conservation of capital; it can be created or destroyed.

With that said, taking on debt is not necessarily a bad thing; it depends on how you use it, and whether you have a viable plan to repay the debt out of future earnings. QE fails on both counts; there's no real direction beyond "inject more money into the economy", and no viable repayment plan.

> I also disagree with the premise that recessions/depressions are good because they clear out dead or dying companies.

I'm not sure whose premise that was, but I would also disagree. Clearing out underperforming companies would be a silver lining at best, and not enough to make recessions or depressions "good". In any case the companies hit the hardest are not necessarily the ones with marginal profits but rather the ones which are incapable of adapting to changing circumstances. That can include old companies set in their ways as well as new, experimental ones which depend on emerging opportunities.