Not sure if this was a troll, but I'll assume it was honest and then point out that every system optimizes for profit. Profit is just taking out more than what you put in. That could be being paid even if you don't show up to work, or doing one hour of work and getting paid for 2, or selling something for $2 when you could easily sell it for $1. Everyone wants to take out more than they put in.
The genius of capitalism is in encouraging and facilitating competition so that other firms can come and take away your profit by selling something that appeals to customers more. In this way, the universal profit motive is turned into better products as people compete for surplus income rather than having that assigned by birth (middle ages), political connections (soviet systems), religious considerations (indulgences/moral crusaders), etc.
But everyone is going to optimize to get more than what they put in -- e.g. profit. The only question is what determines that income stream -- being able to sell products to consumers better than the other guy, or being a loyal party deputy.
>Not sure if this was a troll, but I'll assume it was honest and then point out that every system optimizes for profit.
If we bend profit to mean anything we like, yes.
But the commonly understood sense is "making more money", not "keeping party bureaucrats happy" or "making the private owner of the company proud of the quality of his products, even if he's not making as much as he could".
Aside: Not a troll. Appreciate you taking it at face value, thank you. I think too often I give short answers and expect others to understand / expand my point.
Will expand properly elsewhere but the implicit point was that profit is not necessarily even remotely connected to product quality or customer satisfaction, but the author seems to have made the assumption that they are.
The genius of capitalism is in encouraging and facilitating competition so that other firms can come and take away your profit by selling something that appeals to customers more. In this way, the universal profit motive is turned into better products as people compete for surplus income rather than having that assigned by birth (middle ages), political connections (soviet systems), religious considerations (indulgences/moral crusaders), etc.
But everyone is going to optimize to get more than what they put in -- e.g. profit. The only question is what determines that income stream -- being able to sell products to consumers better than the other guy, or being a loyal party deputy.