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Comment by henry2023 | Hacker News Reader

henry2023

Of course. We live in a world that wouldn’t dare to do any actions to save itself unless it’s “profitable”. This way of thinking permeates to each fiber of our social fabric.

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There is more to running a good business than being profitable.

The executives and shareholders of every large business would like to disagree.

I'd argue that many of them aren't good businesses, even if they're profitable. The opinions of shareholders are just opinions. We all have one.

You're free to make that argument, and the stock market and capital will make a different one. Using that capital, the businesses competing against you will make sure that your good business is no longer a business. At which point it will indisputably be a bad business, failing to do anything for anyone.

Private equity's track record of profitably cratering popular franchises would also like a word.

Not since Milton Friedman won the Nobel Prize in Economics in 1976.

I agree with you, running a business used to be about providing products and services to fill your customer’s needs. Go to any place whose owner is also working there and you still feel that vibe. The satisfaction of a restaurant owner hearing that you enjoyed your meal or the proud gym owner who starts a conversation with every new face which happens to start attending for more than a few days and just wants to help.

Sadly these businesses are outliners now. Nowadays MBAs are hired as CEOs and then Boeing happens in nursing homes. They are in fact bad businesses but no one seems to care.

Returning to the article. The home owner didn’t care a little bit about having principles or trying to run a business that provides value to society. The argument was purely profit based. If there was a way to pre-file for eviction that was legal and costed 900 usd. They would have taken that instead of giving the 1k

Landlording of single-family homes especially is much more akin to capital investment than small business.

A landlord who lives in one unit of a 40 unit apartment building that he owns is closer to the small business, especially if he provides the maintenance.

The nice thing about the small business is that the profit is practically capped - once the owner has "everything he could want" he will basically stop trying to get more. But shareholder corporations never hit that point.

How do you see the society being organized in a different way?

along the lines of acting for the benefit of the community and society as a whole.

i believe the purpose of life itself is to contribute to an ever advancing civilization. actions and intentions are measured against that goal.

For the vast majority of Americans social status is directly tied to income or wealth. As long as this is true the profit motive will be the highest motive for most people.

I think it's an acknowledgement of human tribalism. We tend to take care of ourselves and our "family & friends" and let the rest of the world do the same, and one reason why capitalism and markets work better than most alternatives, they acknowledge human nature and selfishness and don't try to delve too abstractly into moral philosophy.

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