Business is business

Are there certain things that we shouldn't be allowed to make a profit on? Should certain things be nationalised and owned by the people rather than by private companies? Where should we draw the line on free enterprise (if you think a line should be drawn at all)? Or should everything be subject to market forces and we made to pay "the going rate" for everything in life?

Working for a company directly affected by two certain big powers in a paticular arena (I think it's best I don't mention names)....but they've increased prices by OVER 60% in the next month...this is pure profit for them as we were already paying a large amount for the products offered...

I think that there should be more control on price fixing and other large, molopolising companies to ensure that these things can't happen...We're doing fairly well, considering the current climate... but I have to wonder how many people these kind of price hiking is going to put out of business...this is were people need to step in and stop the spiralling credit crunch we're already facing.

Mouse x

There are quite a few companies in the US that donate monies to extremist right wing parties (especially in the film and media industries). Because of such behaviour, I point blank refuse to allow myself to spend a single penny on their products, as it would be tantamount to my giving my money directly to such parties, and I refuse to financially contribute to them. The really worrying thing about these companies is that they have made their reputations as being "family orientated" companies and actively promote themselves as being all for the family and "good ole American" values, while all the time financing groups that murder and terrorise people based on their religion or the colour of their skins. Certain of these companies are well known for the mistreatment of their employees, preventing union membership through violence, poor working conditions and pay... etc. Although I cannot name them directly here, a quick Google of companies in the US that have had court cases brought against them for mistreating their employees, or looking at the list of donations of these companies will show you who they are.

In general, every successful company will have acted unethically at some time or another. It is almost an essential to get ahead of the competition (I should know, I was a successful businessman myself, and although I tried my best to always play fair by my customers and my employees, I still found myself harming others at some points during the running of my business). The object of business is to buy in stock as cheaply as possible (possibly ripping off the supplier, or causing the supplier to underpay their workforce to keep costs down), pay your workforce as little as you can possibly get away with (so companies will rarely pay anyone what they are truly worth) and then sell the finished goods for as much as possible (possibly ripping off the customer).

However, this said - that almost every company will rip someone off by definition - many companies go too far, unnecessarily polluting the planet to avoid paying more in costs (a good example of this is a certain soft drink company that has been unnecessarily polluting in an area of India to lower production costs) or employing sweat shop labour (extremely common in the textile industry), or mistreating their employees and so on.

These companies will continue to act in this way, because they see the share holder more important than anyone else and the more profits they make, no matter what the costs to everyone else, then that's all that's important. The only way that these companies can be stopped from acting this way is by affecting their profits, which is done simply by customers refusing to buy their products until they get better behaved. But most people are too apathetic to do this, so the companies continue to get away with it.

There is a whole section of the community that believe that anything is allowable in pursuit of profits. The UK built its empire on slave and drugs trade, the US was built on slaves and piracy. As long as this kind of behaviour is held up as respectable by those in power, then they will always carry on hurting anyone they want to in order to get more profits.

I believe that there are certain things that should not be owned by private companies and should be kept in public ownership. These tend to be essential services or products that the withholding of them due to not being able to afford to pay for them is unthinkable:

Water - this natural resource is essential for life, so having a private company making profit from it, and possibly cutting off supply to those that can't pay is unthinkable to me

Gas & Electricity - In modern life, electricity is essential for existence, so it should be provided free of charge and not be allowed to be profited on.

Telephone - In modern life, communication is essential, especially with global travel being so easy now. It is essential that everyone is able to access a phone to contact someone in case of emergency or even to just stay in touch with family and friends.

Transport - I think public transport should be free and publicly owned, so that the elderly, ill and disabled are still able to get around without worrying about the cost.

Health - I don't believe that anyone's ability to stay alive or be in pain or not should depend on their ability to pay. All health (including opticians and dentists) should be completely free to all.

Education - I believe that everyone should have access to as much education as they want for free. The more people learn, the more they can contribute to society, so it's really in our own interests to allow everyone the opportunity to learn as much as they want for their whole lives, without charging them for it.

Television / radio / news media - These are essential to be kept free to all and without private ownership (which tends to bring about bias of the persons owning it). It is essential to society that the people are kept informed about what is happening in the world in a completely fair and unbiased way, so removing these services from those that can't afford to pay for it is a terrible thing.

Employment searching - having private companies making money from finding people jobs means that jobs are often not made accessible to many not with that particular company and companies reduce the wages offered to prevent the high charges of the employment agency.

There are many other things that I think should be kept out of the hands of private companies, but I can't think of them at the moment. I'll add them as I remember them.

Should women have to pay for something that they don't ask to have to use or not?

im no woman, but no, i think if its somethin u dont hav a choice about then u shudnt hav 2 pay 4 it, medicine, food, the lot. im an asthmatic 4 life, i hav 2 buy my meds every so often, which in effect is paying 2 stay alive, n i dont think its good

liverpoolvv wrote:

Should women have to pay for something that they don't ask to have to use or not?

I assume by this you are referring to Sanitary towels? There are actually a couple of charities that provide these products to women in Africa, as they are unavaible to a great extent over there.

Zimbabwe in sanitary towels plea

This is another product that is fairly essential to modern life, so should it really be that it is only available to those that can offord it? Or should it be provided free to all that need it?

Another one would be condoms. Yes, you can get them free from family practice clinics, but should they be free to all from any chemist? I know many religious groups will object, due to their objection to contraception, but in these times of sexual health and world overpopulation, is it right that you can only have them if you can afford them?

I think that the above points about making necessities free make a good argument for a moneyless society without private ownership of the means of production (coincidentally, the sort of society I advocated in the 'ideal world' thread!)

I disagree. There can still be a trade / money based market, but with certain products (to be decided by the population) that are exempt from private ownership, or (even better) for every person to be provided with a certain amount of those goods or services, and then private companies able to trade to those that prefer to use a different “brand” (for example, all homes provided with a basic telephone package for free, and then companies may offer a further, add on package, or different type of package on top of that – there are always those that want to have something a little different to everyone else, like faster broadband, or call waiting, etc). This allows for everyone in society to have access to those goods and services whilst still allowing some trade in that area for those that want something slightly different or better and wish to pay for that “upgrade”.