It has become fashionable to look down on 'profit-making' enterprises, and speak glowingly of 'non-profit' ventures. Somehow, people seem to trust non-profit entities more than for-profit corporations, despite the fact that it is much more difficult to hold non-profit entities accountable.

Most people assume that profits apply only to businesses, or to cartoon-like, bloated, cigar-smoking, whisky-swilling capitalists. Also, the adjective that is most commonly associated with a for-profit corporation is .. "evil". In movies and cartoons for children, an evil corporation is quite often seen dumping toxic chemicals, or turning the kids' park into a parking lot.

So, is the profit-motive inherently evil ? Does it create a system that relies on exploitation?

Consider the example of Joe, an honest, hard-working worker who works at Acme Inc. and gets paid $15/hr. What is his profit motive?

You can write Joe's profit-and-loss statement (in words) as follows:

Joe works 8 hours a day - he is investing his capital (labor, time), in return for $15/hr. To Joe, the $15 that he makes for every hour worked has more value than any other use of those 8 hours - if not, he wouldn't invest those hours.

The $250K machinery that is provided by Acme allows Joe to be more productive with his 8 hrs than otherwise. In fact, if Acme had not invested in the machinery, Joe's productivity could not have commanded an hrly rate of $15/hr, it would've been more like $8/hr.

What does Acme Inc. get out of this relationship? Do they do it 'at cost', just because they like having Joe around? Well, since they too are interested in making a profit, Joe's 8 hours are worth MORE than $15 each to Acme. Let's say that Joe produces goods or services that are worth $25/hr to Acme, because that is what they can sell those goods and services to their customer, who happens to be Wily Coyote, Inc . (WCI).

WCI, who may be an 'end user' of Joe's goods/services, thinks that they are getting a bargain on those products at $25/hr; that's because it may have cost them $50/hr to produce the same! Why? Presumably because they weren't in the business of producing that particular product or service - but needed it in their own enterprise.

Is WCI taking advantage of Acme, who (in turn) are taking advantage of Joe's labor. Of course!

Is anyone getting hurt or exploited? No!

Is everyone in this intricate game acting on their own self-interest (read: profit motive)? Yes!

Is there somethin' DIRTY going on? No!

So, why do most people instinctively feel "non-profit good, profit bad", to badly paraphrase the Orwellian "four legs good, two legs bad"?

That's because self-interest has become a dirty word in our lexicon, despite the fact that it is honest, consistent with human nature and the source of productive capitalism.

This is a philosophical dichotomy that causes us to 'feel' our way towards huge mistakes - with the noblest intentions at heart and the counterfeit currency of altruism. As a result, we 'feel' that Public Education is the only way that we can ensure a quality education. Or, we just hate the idea that doctors, nurses, hospitals and pharmaceutical companies make a profit while providing life-saving services and products. So, we 'feel' our way towards Universal Health Care.

The result: we pretend to be altruistic, and fake our way through life. Since our affluence comes from actions taken in our self-interest, we feel guilty for our success.

We claim altruism as a Value - but secretly value our affluence - setting ourselves up for guilt over our well-deserved high standard of living. So, the Joy of attaining our real value (earned through hard work and careful risk-taking) has to be hidden.

Perversely, we honor philanthropy over well-earned wealth. We seem to forget that the process of earning wealth is actually more difficult than the process of giving some of it away. The process of earning wealth also directly or indirectly contributes much more to 'society' than a wealthy person's philanthropy. So, why is Bill Gates reviled for earning billions (while revolutionizing the business world), but lauded for giving away a few millions?

What is it in human nature that sets us up for these contradictions? Why are we so susceptible to the mostly manufactured aura of selflessness? If we could answer that, we would have a good understanding of the instinctive dislike that many people have of the profit motive.

Perhaps it might also give us some insight into the allure of socialism.