“We’re in Business of Shareholder Profit, Not Helping The Sick” ~ Turing Pharmaceuticals’ CEO Martin Shkreli

When I read this article about pharmaceutical companies that acquires drugs and increases their price for shareholder profit, it made me think of how many different ‘services’ actually focus on profit, and not the person who uses the service. Banks make huge profits off of the money you borrow, but shareholders benefit while you get almost nothing for putting your saving into that bank for them to lend to others.

Insurance companies help you prepare for the worst, until they have to pay you, then some of them are more interested in giving you less than you deserve. Profit and greed can work against you, when it should be working for you. The best example I can think of is real estate agents. They have your best interest up until a certain point, but the sale is more important to them than getting you the absolute maximum… when they are making $12,000 on a sale, it’s more valuable to them to get that money than to get you $5,000 more, which earns them just $100 more. Your agent’s advice of “I think you should take it,” might actually come from an agent thinking ‘I don’t want want to lose this sale now, and have to work more, in hopes of getting you more money in a week from another buyer. ‘This is the best I can do for my client’ might succumb to, ‘I have worked hard enough and I’ll take the profit now.’

Profit wins over common sense, over decency, over advocacy. It’s why cigarette companies exist even when they know their product causes cancer. Why vaping companies target children. Why pop companies add more addictive sugar into their already sweet drinks. Sell more, at all costs to the consumer. This is neither a healthy nor a desirable model to live in.

“Earth provides enough to satisfy every man’s needs, but not every man’s greed.” ~Mahatma Gandhi