How Much Profit, and for Whom?

In a recent meeting the Global Head of Quality at an engineering firm where a friend of mine works posed the somewhat rhetorical question, "what is the purpose of business?"

Now this was in the context of a discussion as to whether parts of the manufacturing process should be outsourced or not. It was simply a question of cost-to the bottom line-not to the employees and the surrounding community, and the desired answer was "to maximise shareholder value".

After the meeting my friend, also somewhat rhetorically offered an alternative answer emanating from his days at engineering school where the response was "to provide quality goods and services at a profit".

That answer elicited a rather bemused look from the Head of Quality who dismissed the idea out of hand. What could be more important than the pursuit of maximum profit?

I would have countered with "maximum profit for whom?" For we have created a binary society where the question has become a simple either/or. Either it's good for the whole,and by definition me; or it's good for me, and by definition the whole.

Our society has chosen to focus on what's good for me. Some people-primarily Republicans and libertarians- try and delude everyone else that in some arcane fashion doing what's good for the few will trickle down to the the benefit of the whole.

I am continually amazed at the willingness of the many to be swayed by the few to vote for top-bracket tax breaks, free trade and financial deregulation. The tax-breaks currently in place benefit the top 3% of the population. Free trades has hollowed out our manufacturing base, and financial deregulation has been a license to print money, for the same top 3%.

So when a man like Mr Obama tries to address these problems he is castigated for being un-American, a socialist, an intellectual and most damaging of all, or so it would appear, for being black.

Maybe that's the answer.