profit motive

[flaja]

Would society be better served by having certain industries operate without a profit motive?

Note: Libertarians need not respond since they don’t believe such a thing as society actually exists.

 

[MtnBiker]

Note: Since Flaja does not enforce the rules, Libertarians are more than welcome to respond to this thread if they wish.

 

[manu1959]

Would society be better served by having certain industries operate without a profit motive?

Note: Libertarians need not respond since they don’t believe such a thing as society actually exists.

no

 

[kurtsprincess]

Would society be better served by having certain industries operate without a profit motive?

Note: Libertarians need not respond since they don’t believe such a thing as society actually exists.

No.

What would be the incentive to provide a better product/service?

I believe our government is currently operating on a "non-profit" mentality and look where we are headed.

 

[dilloduck]

Would society be better served by having certain industries operate without a profit motive?

Note: Libertarians need not respond since they don’t believe such a thing as society actually exists.

If you are going to throw out all this silly questions why don't you give us soem definitions to work with. Society---how do you define that?

 

[CockySOB]

Would society be better served by having certain industries operate without a profit motive?

Note: Libertarians need not respond since they don’t believe such a thing as society actually exists.

Perhaps you should try to be specific up-front as to which industries you are talking about. But in overall terms, I believe that a capitalistic society will deliver better quality and lower prices than a non-capitalistic society. And a capitalistic society necessarily requires a profit motive as incentive to research, reinvest and invent as a means of enhancing society.

 

[BaronVonBigmeat]

Would society be better served by having certain industries operate without a profit motive?

No.

Note: Libertarians need not respond since they don’t believe such a thing as society actually exists.

False.

 

[Hobbit]

There are very few organizations that do things well without a profit incentive. They're called charities. Right now, we have about as many charities as our benevolence can support. Without profit as an incentive, our progress would virtually halt, much like what happened to the Soviets under Communism. Without the incentive of more money to motivate people, and without the motivation of a religious work ethic, there was really no reason for anyone to try.

 

[KarlMarx]

Would society be better served by having certain industries operate without a profit motive?

Note: Libertarians need not respond since they don’t believe such a thing as society actually exists.

No...

Countries with capitlist economies generally have higher standards of living than countries with socialist economies.

 

[red states rule]

Would society be better served by having certain industries operate without a profit motive?

Note: Libertarians need not respond since they don’t believe such a thing as society actually exists.

To liberals, the sole purpose of a business is not to make a profit, but to pay the highest amount of taxes possible

To liberals, business should pay the entire cost of health care for their employees. Including, not not limited to, sex change operations. As well as any RX drugs they request, including but not limited to, Viagra

To liberals, business should never lay off an employee. Even if his/her job is no longer needed. Keep them on the payroll so taxes will not be reduced

To liberals, business should pay the full amount of the employees substance abuse therapy. It is because of stress the employee is on drugs or booze, so the business should pay for the rehab

 

[KarlMarx]

oh.. and by the way...

the cleanest countries in the world, i.e. those with the fewest ecological problems are also among the richest. The richest countries in the world are... capitalist

Economists theorize that, once people become wealthy enough, they want to have clean air and water and are willing to pay for it.

Countries whose people have the longest life expectancies are also capitalist.

Whether you like it or not, people will do more good looking after their own self interest than by any other means... that's straight from Adam Smith's "Wealth of Nations"

 

[flaja]

Perhaps you should try to be specific up-front as to which industries you are talking about. But in overall terms, I believe that a capitalistic society will deliver better quality and lower prices than a non-capitalistic society. And a capitalistic society necessarily requires a profit motive as incentive to research, reinvest and invent as a means of enhancing society.

There are some industries for which I think the profit motive is detrimental to consumers or is wasteful of natural resources, but I'd like to get other people's views before I give my own.

 

[flaja]

To liberals, the sole purpose of a business is not to make a profit, but to pay the highest amount of taxes possible

To libertarians the sole purpose of business is to make as much profit as possible regardless of the consequences, caring nothing for long-term sustainability.

 

[flaja]

If you are going to throw out all this silly questions why don't you give us soem definitions to work with. Society---how do you define that?

I though the term society was fairly well known. If you need to have the term defined for you, I doubt that you can be intelligent enough for your opinion to mean anything.

 

[dilloduck]

I though the term society was fairly well known. If you need to have the term defined for you, I doubt that you can be intelligent enough for your opinion to mean anything.

Yo Dumbass---there are societies within societies---strata of societies and on and on and on.

----having certain industries operate without a profit motive.

may have a DIFFERENT effect on each of them. Care to try again?

 

[Hobbit]

To libertarians the sole purpose of business is to make as much profit as possible regardless of the consequences, caring nothing for long-term sustainability.

But that is the sole purpose of a business. Consequently, the 'evil' business model is actually really unprofitable in the long term, due to bad publicity. If its purpose is anything other than making profit, it's not a business, it's a charity.

 

[dilloduck]

But that is the sole purpose of a business. Consequently, the 'evil' business model is actually really unprofitable in the long term, due to bad publicity. If its purpose is anything other than making profit, it's not a business, it's a charity.

I think it's just Flajas' latest homework question.

 

[Hobbit]

I think it's just Flajas' latest homework question.

Oh, well then Flaja should just tell the (probably) socialist professor that businesses are most efficient when working together for the common good of the people of the Sovie...I mean United States.

 

[flaja]

Businesses that would be more effective (at least from the consumer’s standpoint) by operating without a profit motive:

1. Insurance. An insurance customer pays thousands of dollars in premiums and then when they need to make a claim the insurance company makes them jump through hoops before it pays anything out. The less the insurance company has to pay out in claims the more profit it makes. Thus the insurance company has an incentive to not pay claims. And in the process, when major disasters such as hurricanes happen (at least in Florida) insurance companies can simply leave the market and leave the government to pick up the tab.

An alternative to a for-profit insurance company would be either self-insurance or insurance cooperatives whereby all of the money that comes investing the premiums is returned to the co-op’s members through claims or lower premiums.

2. Banking/finance services. Again non-profit credit unions are certainly a better option for consumers of banking/financial services.

3. Groceries. Farmers and to some extent food processors need a profit motive to insure a steady and sufficient supply of food, but a grocery co-op and community supported agriculture and pick-your-own farms eliminate the retail middleman, thus providing food to the consumer at a lower cost.

 

[manu1959]

Businesses that would be more effective (at least from the consumer’s standpoint) by operating without a profit motive:

1. Insurance. An insurance customer pays thousands of dollars in premiums and then when they need to make a claim the insurance company makes them jump through hoops before it pays anything out. The less the insurance company has to pay out in claims the more profit it makes. Thus the insurance company has an incentive to not pay claims. And in the process, when major disasters such as hurricanes happen (at least in Florida) insurance companies can simply leave the market and leave the government to pick up the tab.

An alternative to a for-profit insurance company would be either self-insurance or insurance cooperatives whereby all of the money that comes investing the premiums is returned to the co-op’s members through claims or lower premiums.

2. Banking/finance services. Again non-profit credit unions are certainly a better option for consumers of banking/financial services.

3. Groceries. Farmers and to some extent food processors need a profit motive to insure a steady and sufficient supply of food, but a grocery co-op and community supported agriculture and pick-your-own farms eliminate the retail middleman, thus providing food to the consumer at a lower cost.

1. if i can not make a profit as any one of these three why would i open this business?

self insured.....my company does that, we just charge more because we need the profit to fund our insurance and pay for the attorneys to defend us when someone makes a bogus claim.

all three of these co-ops exist, their lower prices have not run the for profit competition out of business yet