Milton Friedman said it most succinctly in Capitalism and Freedom (1962): “there is one and only one social responsibility of business—to use its resources and engage in activities designed to increase its profits.” He argued in short that a corporation’s sole responsibility is to increase shareholder value, and this argument is the foundation of modern business practives.
If a defence contractor were to produce affordable (i.e. low margin) products, they would be shirking their holy duty to the shareholders, the money would be invested elsewhere, and they would go out of business. China can get away with doing it since they just have a state-owned company do it cheaply, but that’s authoritarian (bad). We, being principled democratic states, can only buy what the free market has to sell.
Milton Friedman said it most succinctly in Capitalism and Freedom (1962): “there is one and only one social responsibility of business—to use its resources and engage in activities designed to increase its profits.” He argued in short that a corporation’s sole responsibility is to increase shareholder value, and this argument is the foundation of modern business practives.
If a defence contractor were to produce affordable (i.e. low margin) products, they would be shirking their holy duty to the shareholders, the money would be invested elsewhere, and they would go out of business. China can get away with doing it since they just have a state-owned company do it cheaply, but that’s authoritarian (bad). We, being principled democratic states, can only buy what the free market has to sell.