>1) You're wrong. Bill Gates, etc, are counter-examples.
Bill Gates is an example only of (a) the kindness of his heart, or (b) tax-incentives for philanthropy, depending on your level on cynicism.
Both tell us nothing about the system he operates in though (well, except the (b), which tells us something about the government and IRS).
Obviously anybody in any era and system could arbitrary out of kindess/a whim or for some hidden motive give money for a good cause. The question was whether the system encourages such a behaviour, not whether it can happen in some counter-examples.
>2) The problem is the word "invest". You're saying in the same sentence that the investment is a loser.
No, I'm saying that an investment shouldn't necessarily aim for the maximum profit, everything else be damned. I'm saying what enterprises only pay lip service to in their ads and brochures, their "social responsibility". I'm saying that if you can have a lesser profit (still profit mind you) but do far more good, you should do it instead of being a greedy bastard.
As for charity and donations, those existed both before and after capitalism. (In fact they predate capitalism by some millenia), so are no argument pro or against to our topic.
>3) It's not "how capitalism works", it's how any self-sustaining system of value allocation works.
There have been tons of "self-sustaining system of value allocation" (which pretty much means: any society) that didn't value profit first and foremost, or at least better juggled it with other concerns.
That doesn't mean that tons individuals or leaders in these didn't value profit first and foremost -- only that the societies at large had other moral/ethical/etc priorities and, err, values. In Ancient Athens for example, it was all about being a good citizen.
>How would they afford to stay open, to give the drug away, if it cost them more to develop and produce it than they made?
Nobody asked them to give it "away" or to have it cost them more to develop than they made.
That said, an organization can also operate at zero or marginal profit. Amazon did it for more than a decade, and not even for a good cause, just to gain market share.
Bill Gates is an example only of (a) the kindness of his heart, or (b) tax-incentives for philanthropy, depending on your level on cynicism.
Both tell us nothing about the system he operates in though (well, except the (b), which tells us something about the government and IRS).
Obviously anybody in any era and system could arbitrary out of kindess/a whim or for some hidden motive give money for a good cause. The question was whether the system encourages such a behaviour, not whether it can happen in some counter-examples.
>2) The problem is the word "invest". You're saying in the same sentence that the investment is a loser.
No, I'm saying that an investment shouldn't necessarily aim for the maximum profit, everything else be damned. I'm saying what enterprises only pay lip service to in their ads and brochures, their "social responsibility". I'm saying that if you can have a lesser profit (still profit mind you) but do far more good, you should do it instead of being a greedy bastard.
As for charity and donations, those existed both before and after capitalism. (In fact they predate capitalism by some millenia), so are no argument pro or against to our topic.
>3) It's not "how capitalism works", it's how any self-sustaining system of value allocation works.
There have been tons of "self-sustaining system of value allocation" (which pretty much means: any society) that didn't value profit first and foremost, or at least better juggled it with other concerns.
That doesn't mean that tons individuals or leaders in these didn't value profit first and foremost -- only that the societies at large had other moral/ethical/etc priorities and, err, values. In Ancient Athens for example, it was all about being a good citizen.
>How would they afford to stay open, to give the drug away, if it cost them more to develop and produce it than they made?
Nobody asked them to give it "away" or to have it cost them more to develop than they made.
That said, an organization can also operate at zero or marginal profit. Amazon did it for more than a decade, and not even for a good cause, just to gain market share.