> Or do you believe that in the long term, profit margins drop to zero? > If capital is abundant, can companies remain profitable without there being a positiv

> Or do you believe that in the long term, profit margins drop to zero? > If capital is abundant, can companies remain profitable without there being a positive return on capital? (I.e. do those profits flow to entities other than shareholders?) > ...are steady-state corporate profits zero? I learned the answers to these questions from economist George Reisman. I recommend his book Capitalism, specifically chapters 16 - 17, where he explains the answers and how he arrived at them. The book is available for free in PDF format here: https://capitalism.net/CAPITALISM_Internet.pdf https://capitalism.net/CAPITALISM_Internet.pdf In short, the net amount of profit in the economy every year is the sum of the "net investment" plus "net consumption" during that year. "Net investment" and "net consumption" are both precisely defined in the text. Net investment is related to the changes in money supply and to the difference between the marginal productivity of capital versus the current rate of profit. And net consumption is related to the consumption behaviors of capital owners and the government. There is no general tendency towards a zero rate of aggregate net profit since there is no general tendency towards aggregate net investment + net consumption being zero.