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by pessimizer·16y ago·view on hn ↗
He's right, and it shouldn't. That's what governments and collective decision-making are for. Private individuals shouldn't be depended on to do anything but further their own interests, even in the charity sphere. They spend money for PR purposes, to strengthen personal connections, or simply because they enjoy the environment it puts them in. The major cause of misery in the world is the lust for power and influence over other people, and money epitomises that.

What people need is security in employment and compensation, and protection against unavoidable risk, like fire and sickness. Without exploiting the weakness and insecurity of workers, you can't really amass the kind of cash this guy has, so I'm not sure about the quality of the jobs he's creating if he can skim that much value off of the top. The profit margin on fairness is a lot lower than the profit margin on slave wages, monopoly, and legislative arbitrage.

That's not to say that he couldn't, though. If he created a lot of good jobs for people with fair wages, and charged fair prices, that's a massive good and can't be denied. He won't, though, because when things are done fairly, there's not a lot of profit to be made. Sorry, rant over:)

1 comments
Private individuals shouldn't be depended on to do anything but further their own interests

Except for politicians, they'll be noble.

If he created a lot of good jobs for people with fair wages, and charged fair prices, that's a massive good and can't be denied. He won't, though, because when things are done fairly, there's not a lot of profit to be made.

Utterly unfounded. Counterexamples that come immediately to mind are Steve Jobs and Larry Page and Sergey Brin.

Politicians shouldn't be depended on to do anything but further their own interests. That's why we introduced democracy, in order to get their interests as closely aligned to the public interest as possible. Nobles are a different story altogether.

>Utterly unfounded. Counterexamples that come immediately to mind are Steve Jobs and Larry Page and Sergey Brin.

I'm not sure how your personal idols refute my ideas of fairness.

I'm not sure how your personal idols refute my ideas of fairness.

I'm claiming they got rich by means of voluntary exchange with customers, rather than exploiting people. Do you disagree?

I disagree that the two are mutually exclusive, yes.