Billionaires and Morality

[madd0c0t0r2]

Cheers for fixing the quote tag. Not sure what happened there.

I don't have any thing that covers more detailed industries I'm afraid. I knew off the top of my head that UK construction net profits are in the sub 5% range and that's it's not unusual in a mature industry. That was the best spread of results I found for USA companies in ten minutes of google. Probably worth noting that that website gives a net profit for Amazon.com of 7%+, double J's estimate.


On the other point, Your original point was "no one is going to do anything if there is not transactional value in the form of profit".

I don't accept your assertation that emotional satisfaction is a form of 'transactional value'. Once generated, it cannot be transacted again. It's satisfaction, not profit, and while it may be possible to derive an equivalent dollar value by asking people how much it would cost to forgo that satisfaction, that doesn't make it the same thing. There was a situation recently where I think if I'd been asked to volunteer my time, I may have, but they offered (bad) compensation, a different part of my brain assessed it and decided it wasn't worth it. We're outside the realm of Homo Economus here.

[madd0c0t0r2]

Cheers for fixing the quote tag. Not sure what happened there.

I don't have any thing that covers more detailed industries I'm afraid. I knew off the top of my head that UK construction net profits are in the sub 5% range and that's it's not unusual in a mature industry. That was the best spread of results I found for USA companies in ten minutes of google. Probably worth noting that that website gives a net profit for Amazon.com of 7%+, double J's estimate.


On the other point, Your original point was "no one is going to do anything if there is not transactional value in the form of profit".

I don't accept your assertation that emotional satisfaction is a form of 'transactional value'. Once generated, it cannot be transacted again. It's satisfaction, not profit, and while it may be possible to derive an equivalent dollar value by asking people how much it would cost to forgo that satisfaction, that doesn't make it the same thing. There was a situation recently where I think if I'd been asked to volunteer my time, I may have, but they offered (bad) compensation, a different part of my brain assessed it and decided it wasn't worth it. We're outside the realm of Homo Economus here.

Ghetto edit, because irrespective of the motivations of individuals, my main point is that we're also really taking about the motivations of large organisations, and they aren't necessarily profit motivated at all.

[Solauren]

I acknowledge the distinction, and will ignore 'personal satisfaction' as a form of profit going forward in this discussion.

[Highlord Laan]

Or, you know, they could adjust compensation levels, but that might mean Jeff Bezos is no longer a billionaire, right?

Bezos announced today he wants to give his billions away to charity and my immediate reaction was 'does that mean he's going to be paid less and start treating his employees right?'

It means he'd "give his billions away" to a "charity" run by either a friend or a family member, take it as a tax writeoff, then enjoy the money he "donated" to a secure overseas bank. It's how billionaire stains on humanity work.