  Supersymmetric $p$-branes that carry a single electric or magnetic charge and
preserve $1/2$ of the supersymmetry have been interpreted as the constituents
from which all supersymmetric $p$-branes can be constructed as bound states,
albeit with zero binding energy. Here we extend the discussion to
non-supersymmetric $p$-branes, and argue that they also can be interpreted as
bound states of the same basic supersymmetric constituents. In general, the
binding energy is non-zero, and can be either positive or negative depending on
the specific choice of constituents. In particular, we find that the $a=0$
Reissner-Nordstr\o{m} black hole in $D=4$ can be built from different sets of
constituents such that it has zero, positive or negative binding energy.
