Now? When did I not?

AND:
“If I am not greedy and don’t try to increase my profit margin as much as possible, then it’s only a matter of time before my business is swallowed up by someone who is willing to.”

“Gas companies want to make money. They will charge as much money as they can for the product they sell.”

I also understand desire for profit is not tied to greed or to profit margin. Consider having a profit margin of ten percent when someone else only makes nine percent profit margin on sales. If he gets 80% of the market and you get 20%, on every thousand dollars he makes $800 sales and $72 profit, you make $200 sales and $20 profit. By not being as greedy, he made more money.

Fo you to even make the $200 in sales you would have to offer something he didn’t. Location, hours, convenience, quality. If you didn’t offer something to offset your higher profit margin on sales, you might not have ANY sales. And people are not being greedy just because they didn’t spend all their money on your more expensive but no better gasoline. They are trying to give their loved ones as good a life as possible

AND
“The most realistic solution is price controls so businesses can’t gouge their customers (like the laws we have in place preventing price gouging for water or fuel after a hurricane).”

That is not actually realistic, just politically favored. If the controls were left in place, availability of all necessities would drop. In fact a jump in prices encourages people to rush in to supply temporary higher needs while they are most needed. The only way to offset the reduced supply versus demand is to command people to supply it without reward. This is also known as “slavery,” opposed when blatant, usually covered with words to hide the reality.

David for truth

and congratulations, you now understand capitalism.

People who have money want to make more money. They invest their resources into things that will make them more money. If I own a business that produces buttons, it is in my best interest to make as many buttons for the cheapest price possible in order to maximize my profits and improve my return on investment.

If I am not greedy and don’t try to increase my profit margin as much as possible, then it’s only a matter of time before my business is swallowed up by someone who is willing to.

Gas companies want to make money. They will charge as much money as they can for the product they sell.

Grocery stores want to make money. They will charge as much money as they can for the product they sell.

Hospitals want to make money. They will charge as much money as they can for the product they sell.

If you don’t like paying high prices, your enemy isn’t Biden or Ukraine or sOciALiSm, it’s unregulated capitalism. The most realistic solution is price controls so businesses can’t gouge their customers (like the laws we have in place preventing price gouging for water or fuel after a hurricane). As long as people keep insisting that “any regulation to the free market is COMMUNISM”, then I don’t have any pity when those same people have to spend half of their paycheck buying groceries.

He also found uses for what others considered waste. Things like asphalt or the feedstock of petrochemicals and diesel and gasoline (before him, most just considered petroleum good for getting kerosene).

David for Danny Devito’s character in _OTHER PEOPLE’S MONEY _

Notice the word INTENSE.

The definition is also given as: a selfish and excessive desire for more of something (such as money) than is needed.”

Thus, it is possible to desire more than an even swap without being greedy. Many retirement accounts include stocks. Few consider people greedy for providing for the future. Michael Douglas’ character confused a lot of people it seems by using greed and profit interchangeably.

Greed is the intense desire for something, like food, money, or power. Capitalism is fueled by investors’ desire for wealth. If people didn’t want to make more money off of their investments, capitalism wouldn’t work.

I don’t care what economic model we use. I’m just tired of hearing people advocate for free market capitalism, then complaining when the free market decides to raise prices.

“Profit” is not just another word for “greed.”
“Greed” is not just another word for “profit.’

They are different words for a reason. They are different things.

Different animals.
Not the same thin.

Oil companies were neither more greedy nor less greedy in the previous decade even though their profits were lower.
Some are even owned by governments.

AND.
“In a capitalist society, the means of production are operated by private owners and investors *for profit*”

You are stressing the profit aspect and seem to be equating profit to greed. The profit aspect is legitimate whether greedy or not. There is also the control aspect. Governments have different goals and tend to run businesses in the ground seeking those goals: employment quotas or social justice or party primacy. For example NAFTA was an agreement regarding trade among nations. Businesses worked within those constraints . There has never been completely free capitalism, since there are laws against murder and other crimes.

Our former president threw it away because he had other goals, mainly the killing of anything previous administrations had accomplished.

Biden also has political goals. Thankfully, he lacks the power to force compliance without others agreeing with the goals. (Insofar as he succeeds, that WILL be socialism, for better or for worse.)

David for better results

Reread your definition of capitalism.

In a capitalist society, the means of production are operated by private owners and investors *for profit*. If you aren’t interested in making money and want to devote your time to charity, that’s fine, but you won’t run a successful business.

I don’t care what kind of economic model we have. I’m just tired of hearing people advocate for free market capitalism, then complaining that when businesses use the free market to raise prices and blame it on “socialism”.

Actually, it isn’t.

Capitalism: economic and political system in which a country’s trade and industry are controlled by private owners for profit, rather than by the state.

Notice no requirement of greed, just the mechanism of operation. John David Rockefeller was a capitalist. Yet he gave a tenth of all his earnings right off the top to charities. Further, he improved his product and repeatedly lowered the cost to consumers.

Desire for forms of wealth is not greed. You probably want enough to pay anticipated bills. You probably do not want everything.

AND:
“The question is “Have gas companies crossed the line from “maximizing profits” to “scalping their customers”?””

The follow-up question might be how you would define and determine the answer.

David for valid tests

Yes, we live in a capitalist society.

The whole point of capitalism is to incentivize people to be as greedy as possible. Business owners try to cut costs as much as they can, shareholders try to maximize their dividends, and workers try to increase their wages.

Like it or not, that is the system that we live in. The problem is when that greed starts turning predatory, like scalpers selling water after a hurricane, or pharmaceutical companies charging exorbitant prices for insulin.

The question is “Have gas companies crossed the line from “maximizing profits” to “scalping their customers”?”

“….oil executives have been doing, rewarding investors after a decade of poor returns. The companies and their Wall Street investors have been giving priority to dividend increases and stock buybacks rather than following their past practice of pushing production when prices are high only to force prices down and reduce profits.’

“Defenders of the industry note that the record profits are not likely to be sustained in an economic slowdown that could become a recession. Such downturns have often sent oil and natural gas prices into rapid tailspins that raised companies’ debt and lowered share prices.”

So returns have been down and they expect demand to drop as the governments are pushing to abandon oil in favor of wind and solar. Even at that, they are investing in more production but just as folks gripe about upgrades for coal powered power plants which are abandoned before their twenty or forty year lifespan, they don’t like wasting resources on things only to be used a few more years.

Notice how we read the same thing and see it differently? Probably my dislike for unnecessary centralized government power. When you need it, go for it. Just don’t assume having Biden, Trump, Obama, Bush, or Clinton in power is always wise. You’re bound to dislike the policies and practices of at least one every now and then.

David for private ownership