marmar (61,571 posts)
Capitalism's "One-Track Mind" for Profits
Capitalism's "One-Track Mind" for Profits
Saturday, 29 June 2013 00:00
By Jacinda Chan, Truthout | News Analysis
In May, following a visit to President Nieto of Mexico, President Obama stopped in Costa Rica for the first time. Obama met with Costa Rican President Laura Chinchilla and attended the Central America Integration System as an observing member. His mission: to address the drug trafficking problem in Central America, which is often used as a transit route between South America and the US.
Obama asserted that Latin American governments must work towards alleviating poverty, to reduce the gang activity that facilitates drug trafficking. In his address in Costa Rica, Obama addressed the issue of development in Central America, including the improvement of infrastructure and the increase in trade and foreign investment. But he didn't say a thing about the ways in which neoliberal policies have fueled widespread poverty and unrest.
These policies have continually favored oligarchic elites: American businesses and all seven Central American countries would increase the profits of the wealthy few. All seven of these Central American countries are ruled by wealthy conservatives, including El Salvador (President Funes) and Nicaragua (President Ortega), who nonetheless rely on wealthy conservatives for electoral votes.
Without proper institutions to regulate where profits from trade and foreign investment go, elite oligarchies will stay in power and increase profits from foreign investments and trade while neglecting the poor and increasing poverty. Without a significant redirection of resources toward impoverished communities, increased trade and foreign investment are unlikely to reduce gang violence and drug trafficking. ..................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://truth-out.org/news/item/17230-more-neoliberal-profit-driven-policies-proposed-during-obamas-trip-to-costa-rica
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023132930Emphasis added.
We keep hearing, constantly, how profit is bad. Never mind the fact there's mitigation of the term such as saying "excessive (whatever that might mean) profit is bad" only that profit, in and of itself is bad. Nor is there ever a delineation for ill-gotten profit, i.e. through force or fraud or willful negligence. Never mind the fact that -- according to conservative doctrine -- profit is derived from voluntary exchange thus the value equation is actually one of equality as the consumer will not make a purchase unless and until they believe the value of their purchase equals the value of the currency they will remit. No, we are told, the mere pursuit of profit alone leads to all sorts social ills. Capitalism is the embodiment of the quest for profitability and that in turn is creating the preconditions for the ruin of civilization.
Now "profit," as I understand it, is the ability to gain more value (in the mind of the provider) in exchange of production of goods and services than one expends the provision of such production or services. If the cost of labor, materials etcetera for producing widgets is $5 then to sell a widget for $4.99 or less results in a loss (not profit), to sell it for $5 results in a break-even state (also not profit) but to sell it for $5.01 or more results in profit.
(NOTE: I would re-emphasize that to the purchasing consumer the value is actually equal. I never bought a video game for $60 unless I really thought is was worth it and I actually buy most of my video games for substantially less for such is my price-point.)To summarize:
1) To pursue profit is evil.
2) Profit as defined by Proglodytes is: receiving more from an exchange than one puts into the provision of the thing exchanged.
With that being said:
Why is it that every Proglodyte social policy centers on food stamps, unemployment payments, welfare, green-tech subsidies, grants, disability payments, free birth control, free child care after free birth control, free healthcare, free education, etc.?
In other words, every liberal prescription involves people receiving more value from an exchange then they put in to the exchange.
Every liberal policy relies on profit.
But not even a profit in exchange for goods and services but profit wherein the profiting party has produced or provided absolutely -- NOTHING.
Would any Proglodyte care to examine this state of affairs?
