But shareholders, like spectators, are also prone to inconsistency and confusion. Chief executives are often judged on quarterly performance. Investors generally lack patience. Facebook, say, is being sold off in part because of the heavy capital expenditure necessary to build a sustainable business – its capex-to-sales ratio last quarter was 35 per cent. Mark Zuckerberg could easily slash that to boost short-term profits.

但是，股东与观众一样，都容易前后不一和糊涂。人们常常根据季度业绩来评判首席执行官们。投资者通常缺乏耐心。例如，Facebook遭到抛售，在一定程度上就是因为该公司为了打造可持续的业务而加大资本开支力度，上一个季度，其资本支出对销售额比率达到35%。若要提升短期利润，马克·扎克伯格(Mark Zuckerberg)大可以削减资本支出。

A problem with this argument, however, is that long-termism is not always what it is cracked up to be either. The infinite time horizons of sovereign wealth funds can lead to investments that distort markets in which mere mortals operate. Qatar Holding, for example, is making a right mess of the merger between Glencoreand Xstrata, and does not seem to care that it has lost its dishdasha on investments in the likes of Barclaysand Credit Suisse.

不过，这个论点的问题在于，长期主义也未必像某些人吹嘘的那么英明。主权财富基金无止境的长远眼光，可能导致扭曲市场的投资，使凡人不能正常操作。比如，卡塔尔控股(Qatar Holding)正在给嘉能可(Glencore)与矿商超达(Xstrata)的合并案捣乱，而且似乎不在意自己在巴克莱银行(Barclays)和瑞信(Credit Suisse)等的投资近乎血本无归。

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