The War Against Profit

Ever since the beginning of the of the financial crisis, the mood towards people and companies making profit has changed.

Years ago, but not so long ago, when companies released their quarterly or years figures, people used to be impressed by the amount of money they make. There was a bit of jealousy, but people in the main were just staggered by the huge numbers. But then the banking collapse changed all that. What companies made was put bang in the middle of the spotlight. So as people started to struggle with their own finances, the attitudes towards the companies making money turned sour, very quickly.

We live now in an age where the freedom and access of information is constant. We now want to know, who's getting paid what and when, and those figures are coming under intense scrutiny. Would you have dreamed of demanding to know how much bosses at big companies were being paid 25 years ago? No. If you did you were told to shut up and not ask stupid question where you wouldn't get an answer.

The question I want to ask is why do people seem to hate it when companies make good profits?

Think about it. The main reason why people go into business is to make money. If they do a better job of things, then they make more money, it's a simple rule. Take British Gas today for example. They cut their prices, but due to the worst Winter for 30 years, their profits rose 98% to £585m. But, as they released the data, people started calling for bigger price cuts, attacking the amount of money British Gas made. There was a point British Gas did make which I thought summed things up nicely. They said that companies have to make profits to help pay for new power stations to replace the old decaying ones. If a company makes no profit, there is nothing to reinvest back into the company.

So people, unless you want services and infrastructure to decay and become run down, let companies make their profits. The bigger they are, the more money they can reinvest. In theory we will benefit from better services.