That's close but not quite. In older times, this economic profit is an accumulation of wealth, instead of having the apples just pay for the daily laborer's cal

That's close but not quite. In older times, this economic profit is an accumulation of wealth, instead of having the apples just pay for the daily laborer's calories, it means, maybe they can take a few apples home to make apple sauce and that the farm owner can sell the extras in a market. You paid for the maintenance (ie. workers not starving, replacing machinery, ) and you had some left. Land is a whole other problem. The Wealth of Nations has a pretty good description of the interactions between labor, landowners, capital. The recent problems is the disconnect between money and actual food/materials/energy production. If your grandfather lived in a 100kw village with a 100 dollars circulating, and made 1 dollar, it is reasonable to think he could buy 1kW for his family. If we live in a 100kw village (because no, we should reduce energy production) with 100,000 dollars circulating and you make 500, you can buy 500w. Now do it for turkeys, or steel, or etc... Degrowth is impoverishment in most cases. Things haven't gotten much more productive, and we are more people