Profit, a Force For Good

This morning I awoke to the bewailing of some NHS employee (I forget her exact position) about the profit motive involved in the despicable government scheme of using tax payers money to help fat, lazy fuckers lose some weight  (this was on BBC news, there is a related article posted here too).

But she doesn't seem to share the same complaints as me, in fact she was more than happy to explain the benefits achieved, courtesy of the taxation used to pay for this project.  What she was unhappy about was the profit made from this scheme by private companies.

I can understand that people may feel uneasy about individuals making profit of the sick, but people make a profit from many other more important aspects of living.  Farmers and supermarkets make millions from one of lives most essential requirements, food.  Various other companies make profit from water, fuel to keep your homes warm, etc.  Why is health care a forbidden fruit that private enterprise isn't allowed touch?  Personally I cannot see a good reason, simply some misguided attachment to an expensive and wasteful system.

I'm getting quite sick an tired of hearing this pointless complaint to be honest, profit is not some phenomenon of "corporate greed", we all do it.  The pay check that NHS employees (and all other employed people for that matter) take home at the end of the month doesn't just cover the costs of necessities required for you to work (food, transportation costs, etc).  You are paid a little more (or maybe substantially more) to spend on life's luxuries like a holiday, a new kitchen or to save for a rainy day, this may be familiar to you as disposable income.

How does this differ from a company retaining extra profit on top of its basic running costs?  It doesn't!  Businesses make a profit to help them through tough trading periods (savings), to buy a new factory or increase productivity (just like a new kitchen) or to reward employees and shareholders with a bonus (just like your holiday).  Is this really that great an evil?  Businesses are run by people, for people, they don't just appear to suck up cash for the sake of it.

Referring back to the BBC article, the profit motive is helping to providing a service that the NHS can't.  Even though I disagree with the principle of this scheme it demonstrates a clear example of the free market benefits constantly touted by intelligent economists.  The potential reward and risk reimbursement earned by the people who developed these weight loss products & schedules is the only reason they exist.  Without the profit motive who would be providing these services, certainly not the NHS?

There are many other benefits associated with a free market system, not all of them profit motivated, which perhaps I'll get into another time.