Profit is a dirty word to many people. It is associated with deception, coercion, and general unfairness. However, I believe most who condemn profits altogether are failing to see the entire picture due to poor economic understanding. I hope I can offer some clarity, but if you still disagree after my attempt below, feel free to comment for further discussion.
Image credit
First, there is some merit to corporate condemnation. Corporations are created through government with special legal protections and privileges. Government uses its power to subsidize, bail out, and protect cronies in the corporate world. The corporations in turn support government power. It is a twisted partnership built on plunder. Profits built on a foundation of coercion cannot be deemed legitimate.
However, lumping such plundered profits in with ordinary market exchange in order to condemn the principle itself is lazy thinking. Every voluntary action and exchange is based on profit.
In a market transaction, the fact that a voluntary exchange occurred at all is proof that both parties perceived a benefit. In a monetary transaction, one party gained a sum of money they valued above what they provided, and the other party gained goods or services they valued more than the money spent.
Market competition is not a destructive contest, but an effort to gain the voluntary exchanges of others. It does not inherently promote monopolies and cartels. Instead, we see the proliferation of creative ideas and niche markets designed to better serve others. The ebb and flow of changes and responses results in a trend toward lower prices and better products. It is only when the government gets involved that we see any kind of permanent protection for bad actors, price controls driving up costs, and restrictions in consumer choice.
In the market, profits are the signal that the desires of others are being fulfilled. If there are high profits in an industry, it signals an unmet demand. More people seek to fill this demand, and they compete to do it best. This is creativity and production for the benefit of all, not cutthroat destructive animosity toward mankind.
But even outside the market, everything we do is geared toward satisfying our greatest wants for the least effort. Many satisfactions cannot be measured monetarily. To condemn market advocates as being single-mindedly focused on balance sheets and bank accounts is an absurd strawman. We pursue leisure because we prefer it. We feel we profit by it. The same for our self-directed education, music practice, and other interests outside the business world.
Government is usually presented as a counterweight to market excess, because politicians are not motivated by profits. However, the motivations of politicians are much more perverse. Politics is inherently about power and plunder. Politicians and their bureaucrats do not have the market signals of profit and loss to guide their decision-making. They do not know what costs people are willing to bear, or how to satisfy the wants of others in any way, much less in the most economically productive way. They speak about great things they will give us, and then make demands which we are expected to obey in order to avoid punishment. There is no virtue in this.
So why the hate for profit, and support for politics? It is a perverse display of hatred and destruction wrapped in a veneer of altruism. It is the wide road that leads to destruction. It is men who would make themselves gods, demanding obedience and worship. It is the very thing the opponents of the market and profit claim to fight against.
The draft I posted earlier was a mess. Now it is slightly less of a mess.
