The "P" word

I've been noticing an odd little trend lately... It's made its way through our culture, bleeding out of the mouths of reporters and through the keyboards of bloggers everywhere. We've become obsessed with hatred for those that obtain profits in any venture. If a company (especially a large one) posts a profit for the year, people react as if genocide has occurred. It's ridiculous.

Well, maybe I exaggerated a bit there, but it still is silly. I mean, what's wrong with profits? I can hardly think of anything.

Profits are not made without the consumer's consent.
Obviously, the consumer had to feel as if the product being sold benefited him/her at least as much as he/she paid for it (if not more). It's not as if someone holds a gun to your head and forces you to buy a product. That's illegal. How can a consumer contribute to profits and still be so against them?

The public benefits from profits immensely.
Who really owns a company? (I'll give you a hint; if it's a publicly traded company in the stock market, it's probably owned by the stockholders!)
In many cases, profits are distributed to the investors in a company through
dividends as a reward for their investment. This means, if you own stock in a certain company, and they post profits, you could be rolling in some coin. Or, if you're preparing your retirement and you turn to the stock markets for investment, you could collect a little extra for yourself on the side. Sounds like a pretty decent deal, right?
That isn't the only way you can benefit from a profit. If a company doesn't put profits out through dividends, the money has to go somewhere, right? It generally goes straight back into the company. This allows for growth and expansion, which leads to job creation. That is definitely not a bad thing, now is it?

Profits provide an optimal environment to technological advancement.
In the last little bit, I mentioned profits going back into a company. If a company doesn't put the spare cash toward building a larger business, they generally put it into research and development. The extra R&D can help bring about new products, which in turn benefits the consumer more. This doesn't sound that bad either, right?


So, why are profits looked down upon? What about the word spurs such a negative reaction?

I really don't know. If you do, tell me.

So, now when you hear a politician talk about increasing taxes on a highly profitable industry, you'll know some of the negative implications of the act, right? Hopefully...
Just think what we could be doing if we didn't have a nearly 40% business tax (that your president-elect and his Congress want to raise!)!