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> As long as companies are driven by profits As long as people want more stuff. Company profits have a dependent relationship on consumption. It wouldn't matte
by BobbyJo 5y ago
> As long as companies are driven by profits
As long as people want more stuff. Company profits have a dependent relationship on consumption. It wouldn't matter if the company produced twice as much if people didn't consume the increased output. You hint at that in your last statement, I just wanted to spell it out.
- haswell 5y agoI get what you’re trying to say, but this doesn’t necessarily always apply. For example, demand for some goods is fairly predictable, e.g. certain commodity foodstuff. A profit driven company selling these kinds of goods is focused on increasing their market share, but no matter what, the demand is there. Compare this to something else like SUV sales, where demand exists that probably shouldn’t. Yes, consumer sentiment drives/enables these companies, but the nature of that demand and the behavior it drives is certainly not all equal.
- BobbyJo 5y agoIt isn't equal, but pointing that out downplays the fact that they are in equilibrium. Commodities producers reduce costs to increase profits through greater market share, but without the drive to consume more goods than the present, the excess capacity from the cost reduction would sit idle, which doesn't happen in practice. To make the point more salient, if people were willing to live to the standards of the 1800s, a significant amount of the workforce slaving away could retire right now. People choose increased consumption over leisure time, not corporations, corporations only provide demanded goods.