Where did the idea that corporations are entitled to profit

[Skidmore]

come from? Given that this is supposed to be a free market society?

[Greyhound]

1. The same place that the idea that a corp is a 'legal entity',

crooked politicians, stealing our treasure.

[Neocondriac]

2. American Royalty....

Rockafeller, Getty , Mellon, Astor , Hearst and don't forget Prescott Bush !

[expatriot]

the shareholders and all else who have an interest in it turning a profit.

i don't think anyone believes that corporations are entitled to earn a profit but they believe that corporations are entitled to do everything within their means in order to earn a profit, no matter the consequences of their actions. A subtle difference.

[Cactus44]

3. Who would want a company that didn't make a profit?

I'm not sure I understand why you're asking this? Profit is a good thing. There's nothing wrong with making money.

[BOHICA06]

4. Expectation Creep ... its everywhere!

Neither entities nor individuals are entitled to any success .... they are entitled to the pursuit of success.

[wrathofkahn]

5. What are they supposed to do?

LOSE money?

[Skidmore]

7. If they don't have a good product or delivery system, yes.

And, might I add, go out of business instead of getting bailouts from Citizen Joe.

[wrathofkahn]

8. Then I don't understand your question

If you are saying that companies that make an inferior product or offer an inferior service, relative to the price they charge, should fail, then you're absolutely right.

Your original question made it sound like you don't think that corporations shouldn't earn profits at all (to me at least). That's a whole different ball of wax.


And don't get me started on bailouts, especially of the airline industry.

[Skidmore]

9. My point is that corporations expect to be GUARANTEED a

profit and to be bailed out instead of failing. Look how many times the airline industry has been bailed out and then there's the automobile industry. Their success has nothing to do with the product or service they deliver, it has to do with a guarantee that they should have profit. Why not better CAFE standards? Because the corp might have to behave as a responsible citizen, and that may make it less profitable.

[TX-RAT]

11. They may have been bailed out to save thousands of jobs.

[Skidmore]

13. Not good enough.

Bailing them out perpetuated bad financial decision making systems and prevented opening the market for new competition to come in and maybe do it better. That would have created jobs.

[Burma Jones]

6. Good point

A Corporation should not be entitled to profit. A Corporation should be able to earn a profit, albeit not nearly as rapacious as they are now, in a truly free market.

When Corporations are given protections from both regulation and legal liability at the same time, it ceases to be a free market and is instead a corporate state (see fascism). Fascism also sets up guarantees that corporations will profit in order to support the state.

A reasonable profit is necessary in order to get people to invest in new ventures. Without profit, you get Soviet style planning. Profit is why I don't have to wait in line for toilet paper. The Chinese are all about profit. Scandinavian welfare states still have profit making corporations within them. So, profit is not the enemy, stacking the game so you can make disgusting profits is the enemy.

[anitar1]

10. Read "Unequal Protection" by Thom Hartmann.

An excellent book about corporations.helped me to understand the whole picture.

[Silverhair]

12. They should not be ENTITLED to anything except the right to try.

Bankruptcy is Nature's way of telling you that you are incompentent, or just very unlucky.