understanding capitalism and efficiently run business

but let me play devils advocate here....

if say I was to create an intangle product online such as say an online book that teaches people how to gamble...

and say some people buy it at first... then more people buy it and even more people buy it afterwards.... i may get away with targeting vulnerable people into an emotional gambling habit. Am I really helping society out in this case? probably not. Does a society with a variety of intellectual compacity for the most part know what to buy and what not to buy? If I pray on peoples weaknesses (which pretty much what most companies do) in order to narrow financial gain taken from a large amount of people compact into 1 individual, am I do society a favor?

Take for example, the richest people in the world. Sure they provide jobs for other people and they may seem like they're giving back to society, but the fact that they are cheap most of the time is pretty much a reflection of how they were able to attain more wealth to begin with.

For example, if you just got a very good deal on an item and sold it back on ebay and made a huge profit from doing this. Then you do it over and over again. Now when you walk into say a fast food restaurant and you see how all the employees slaving over a few $$$ per hour. Why is it that a sense of slight guilt comes over you... could it be that you are part of captialisim and you know that you are pretty much making more for the little that you are doing....which means, someone who has a lot of wealth has more potential to give back... yet is not really doing so, hence, the reason why they net 10's to 100 times more than the average worker. Which is causing the divide betwen the rich and the poor...


If you look at the economy, the US was flurishing in the past... I believe it was not out of the US being much smarter or had better morals, but after world war II... the US bombed a lot of major industrial factories in other countries which caused a monopoly for the US to prosper. Then society is lead to believe that the US business model is what causes the US to prosper. But now the playing field is even again and it is China that looks to dominate the economy soon.

If you look at those countries that have prospered were mostly countries we fought against. The agressive stayes at the top. It's survival of the fittest. In a democracy, those who want something tend to get it if they are hungry for it. A lot of people are hungry for it, but just aren't smart enough to know how to get it.

I see how greed can bring a countries social class up a few notches and then take the lower classes up with it...

but when thinking of a global economy... is capitalisim looking out for those who aren't capable of moving up the ladder due to limitations of resources? Hence, the reason why there are still third world countries and gaps between the rich and the poor?

Anyway, I am open to opinion and I open to the fact that I could be wrong about this... keep these posts coming.
 
Quote from z32000:

if say I was to create an intangle product online such as say an online book that teaches people how to gamble...

and say some people buy it at first... then more people buy it and even more people buy it afterwards.... i may get away with targeting vulnerable people into an emotional gambling habit. Am I really helping society out in this case? probably not. Does a society with a variety of intellectual compacity for the most part know what to buy and what not to buy? If I pray on peoples weaknesses (which pretty much what most companies do) in order to narrow financial gain taken from a large amount of people compact into 1 individual, am I do society a favor?
More...

u pray on peoples weaknesses. This is exactly what the alternative to capitalism does. The size of government reflects the amount of people in a society that have not overcome their own weakness given democracy.

Greed is a weakness. Fear is a weakness. Special interests are greedy and fight for bigger government. Fearful people are played to support bigger government. Envy is a weakness. To steal from the rich and give to the poor is not envy envy people think. Those with a will to power have many strings to play on.

The will to power is also a weakness.
 
"Why is it that a sense of slight guilt comes over you..."

You need to address these thoughts. Feeling guilty will impede your continued success. You work harder, apply yourself, why shouldn't you earn more? Perhaps your effort at making money doesn't feel like work to you, "it's too easy" you enjoy yourself, while you see others not happy in what they are doing and making less. These people have choices. They have problems with the solutions to there problems.
 
Biblically, there is a passage that says a lot "let an evil man borrow so that a good man can have a job". That points up that at least partially, the real purpose of your company is to provide jobs, and that elevates the status of employees. I have worked in companies that had management that understood that principle and was treated well and was very productive. I have worked for other companies that were focused on efficiency and tried to squeeze the last drop of blood out of the employees. The former were far, far more efficient because the employees were happier and healthier and more productive.
 
Quote from z32000:

but it sounds like capitalisim is about greed. Everyone for himself. Could it be that the only reason the economy would do well, is if others aren't doing so well?

Hence, could capitalisim be cause of the growing gap between the rich and the poor?
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You mean it's really just a pyramid scheme?

Nah, could not be, capitalism is where everyone can be rich.
 
Quote from z32000:

but it sounds like capitalisim is about greed. Everyone for himself. Could it be that the only reason the economy would do well, is if others aren't doing so well?

Hence, could capitalisim be cause of the growing gap between the rich and the poor?
More...

societies that are NOT capitalist tend to have few rich and many poor.

look at North Korea. Look at Cuba. Look at Russia, before oil & mineral wealth rose up their fortunes. Look at severe military dictatorships.

Why do you think China has been encouraging capitalism? Decades back, some farming areas in China told farmers that a small portion of their farm could be used for their own sales, and the rest would be raised for the state. You know what? The farmers got more produce from their small "capitalist" portion than from the large "state" portion.

Capitalism is not about greed. It is about letting each person maximize their contribution, without being tied down.

The more wealthy, the more jobs.
 
z32000-------(1) If you start your business, nobody will care if you fail. Very few people will care if you succeed. (2) You have a "zero sum" mentality about money. Money you accumulate isn't money that somebody else "lost". (3) If you collect $19.99 from lots of people, it just means that those customers have that much less money in their checking account. In the big scheme of things, it's trivial. (4) Some people are more acquisitive than others. All people aren't created equal. (5) In due time, your business will probably fail. The high failure rate applies to everybody, all of the time. (6) Stop researching your "idea" to death before the opportunity you see becomes obsolete or somebody else does what you want to do.
 
"In due time, your business will probably fail. The high failure rate applies to everybody, all of the time."

It's the nature of the beast. Often times, to expand your business, the decision is double or nothing, an intolerable drawdown in cash and/or equity. The risk to expand is greater than the risk of the start up. Often there is not a choice, grow or die. If the business choses not to expand the only alternative is to raise prices to offset the lack of expansion, this works till the competition shows up.
 
Quote from z32000:

I plan to start my own e-business soon. I'm very frugal and tend to run everything as efficiently as possible, by minimizing amount of inventory costs, debt to income ratio. Basically, I'm hiring the least amount of employees I need in order to run a successful website. And of course, trying to make millions and millions of dollars...


but here is my question, besides paying more for taxes.... how is my business benefiting society (besides the service i offer which is going to be purely recreational)?

Basically, if a couple of people and myself can make huge amounts of money, someone else must be making less...

I know this is capitalisim, but in accumalating $$$ and not spending it... am I harming the economy more than I am helping it since I am running it as efficiently as possibly and barely throwing back $$$$ into the market since I'm minimizing my workforce?
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Your idea that you will make a zillion dollars on a shoestring is a FANTASY.
You don't seem to be aware...
Of just how brutally, ruthlessly competitive the business world is.

The reality is:

Most high-tech businesses have slim profit margins in the 5-10-20% range...
So for every $1,000,000 in revenue you are gonna spend $900,000 to keep building your business.

You NEVER stop building... or you go OUT OF BUSINESS.

In the first few years that is actually almost always negative...
Meaning > 90% of businesses initially go into debt.

So all that money creating jobs and circulating is great for the economy...
As opposed to everybody sitting around, smoking dope, and watching TV.
 
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