Unfortunately quite a lot of today's economy is contrary to the interests of civilization. Businesses can be broadly split into 3 categories: 1. Those that cr

Unfortunately quite a lot of today's economy is contrary to the interests of civilization. Businesses can be broadly split into 3 categories: 1. Those that create value and sell it or exchange it on the market (not necessarily necessary things, but things that someone wants.) 2. Those that don't add value in and of themselves but are necessary because markets are imperfect (accountants, lawyers, ad agencies, marketing consultants) 3. Those that exploit the fact that markets are imperfect, for profit (hedge funds, speculators [including bitcoin], the non-advisory side of investment banks, landlords, patent trolls, any sort of rentier) And guess which of those is where the money is. But (2) and (3) do not contribute to society since they do not add to its overall value. I would love to see a government somewhere actively encourage (1) companies, through policy incentives etc., to bring the balance back. Not going to happen though. Addendum: I put ad agencies in number 2. I'm not talking about companies that do add value, but ads is how you pay for it (Google, Facebook, TV and radio stations.) Those are number 1 businesses.