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Originally Posted by mtrimpe  Is it not true that the definition of profit is pocketing the excess value produced by your employees and the amount consumers are willing to pay more than your product is worth? |
No, it is
not true that the definition of profit is pocketing the extra over what it's worth. You're mixing up worth and cost. Profit is when you sell something for more than what it cost you. Worth is whatever people are willing to pay for it. The goal of a business, then, is to make your product worth more than it cost. You may do this by moving it to some place where it's less common, and therefore worth more (import/export). You may do this by improving your product (fix 'n' flip) or creating a product from scratch (cars from iron ore, art from canvas and pigment). You may do this by waiting until the product you have is more highly valued by your buyers (stock market investing). But it is impossible to sell something for more than it's worth.
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Thirdly, do you see any similarity in these two trains of thought?- Slaves don't know what is best for them, therefore we masters must use our superior intellect to make decisions for them.
- Employees don't know what is best for them, therefore we employers must use our superior intellect to make decisions for them.
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I see great similarity between those two trains of thought. What I can't see is any similarity between those trains of thought and
my train of thought. I am an employer; I pay money to employees who have agreed to do work for me. So let's use me as a test case.
I assume, from your rhetorical question, that you believe that I have trains of thought similar to the second one you listed. Why do you believe that? Do you have evidence from my writing? Do you have evidence from what my employees have told you? Do you have evidence from interactions between my employees and me that you have observed? Or have I misinterpreted the intent of your question?
I think that my employees have a much better idea of what they want than I ever could. That's why I meet with them once a year, or whenever there's a big change in the company, to determine what they want, and how we can work towards that goal together.
One of my employees wants to work in the computer industry forever and learn as much as he can. We send him out on the new and interesting jobs, and pay for his training when we can afford it.
One of my employees wants to be a financial advisor. There's frankly nothing I can do to help with that goal. But he needs money until he succeeds, and we have agreed to help each other until the time that he's able to leave us and move on.
What decisions do you believe I have made "for" them?
Amanda