At what point is a business making excessive or immoral amounts of profit? Is there a profit margin businesses should be limited to? Why or why not?
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Profit
- Thread starter Left Coast
- Start date
This is down to personal opinion and gross vs net profit.
So personally i would say around 50% gross profit is adequate to return a reasonable net profit but a lot depends on overheads, and whether you can dodge the taxman
Edit
I mentioned an uncle in another thread. He wasn't really an uncle but a very close family friend. He was a market trader who's motto was "buy for a penny, sell for twopence, one percent profit is enough for me"
So personally i would say around 50% gross profit is adequate to return a reasonable net profit but a lot depends on overheads, and whether you can dodge the taxman
Edit
I mentioned an uncle in another thread. He wasn't really an uncle but a very close family friend. He was a market trader who's motto was "buy for a penny, sell for twopence, one percent profit is enough for me"
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mikkel_the_dane
My own religion
Most I could give would be political as laws, but that is in a sense also morality.
For the pure moral ones, I really can't come up with one.
I mean since I accept taxation as a compromise, I don't consider profits as immoral as such.
Profit is not found wealth; it's taken wealth.
That's interesting, do you have a number in mind for reasonable net profit?
Does this mean all profit is immoral? Should it be banned?
I would say about 10% to 15%. Why? It beats inflation, much less and you are losing money, much more is just greedy.
No, it means that I believe there to be a difference between compensation for services, reasonable ROI, and profit.
Do they not sell Das Kapital on the Left Coast.
What is reasonable ROI as opposed to profit? If all profit isn't immoral, where should the line be drawn?
I'm not a Marxist, though he had some interesting ideas.
I think it's a bit misleading. For example I bought something in the late 90's for about $100 and today they are selling for over $1000, a somewhat rare item. I wished I'd bought more of them. So I can profit greatly. It's what the market will pay, and I just happen to be lucky. But look at Beanie Babies, they were once in high demand yet today you can't give them away. So market forces drive what a person/business can make. I learned recently that Adidas had limited edition Kanye shoes that would sell for $4-600. Seriously? For ugly shoes? Yup. Kids will buy them. If people are willing to buy things at very hogh prices then the companies can reap profits. I personally don't understand how so many can get sucked into being exploted for profit just for status symbols, but there it is.
I think it is different when an industry, like the gas companies, can coordinate and keep prices artificailly high and reap profits. The same with other producers who are taking advantage of inflation to push prices higher. Biden is talking about windfall taxes on some companies whose profits are at record levels.
I think it is different when an industry, like the gas companies, can coordinate and keep prices artificailly high and reap profits. The same with other producers who are taking advantage of inflation to push prices higher. Biden is talking about windfall taxes on some companies whose profits are at record levels.
I would limit the total wealth any individual or business entity could amass. I don't care how quickly they get there, that is, how profitable they are, as long as not doing so illegally (despoiling the land), unethically (exploiting employees) or via oligopolies (price fixing and gouging). It is an existential risk to the rest of us.
This is just a principle. I don't have suggestions for what those caps should be, or specifically how to implement this.
I think it probably relates to how much something is valued and how much it's actually worth, which I've observed to be pretty subjective and often frivolous and emotionally-based. Greed and narcissistic pride figure prominently, as the prima donnas of this world demand lucrative compensation because they're "worth it."
But it's not really the amount of profit that makes it moral or immoral. It's the prices they charge for their goods or services. If someone charges more for something than it's really worth, then that's what I would consider to be immoral.
Personally I don't think a business running at 20% net profit margin is "just greedy" per se. Businesses may need the money to expand, for example. But I don't have a particular number in mind of how much would be too much. I thought others here might though.
What amount of wealth would you set as the cap? Are we talking about annual income or net worth?
The major problem with government limiting profit
lies in giving government the power to limit profit.
Revoltistanian saying....
When you give The Man power to do something for you,
this also gives it the power to do something to you.
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If the maximization of the profit is achieved at the cost of employees' poverty, then it is immoral.
At least in socialist Europe.
The employee should get the fair wage proportionate to the quality and quantity of the performance.
At least in socialist Europe.
The employee should get the fair wage proportionate to the quality and quantity of the performance.
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In a world where the wealthy are allowed to gain beyond their needs, at cost of the workers' detriment...it's not a beautiful world. It's the worst of the worlds possible. And I suggest people not to make children in such a hellish world, because it's like sending sheep to the wolves' lairs.
Should this limit be applied daily, monthly, yearly, or
over a longer time frame? I ask because profit varies.
So making 15% profit one month wouldn't be enuf to
offset larger losses in other months. This would have
the effect of making business operators far far more
safety oriented. Less chaos in the market, but also
far less innovation.
There will never be a beautiful world.
All we can do is optimize.
And limiting wealth by law looks to be
at odds with that, ie, "hellish".
