by Elizabeth A. Marion

Created on: May 02, 2010

Profit seems to be demonized more and more these days. Whether it's people blaming big businesses or judging people they know for how they spend their money, people are acting as if making money is somehow a bad or wrong thing. Cheating people out of money or stealing money is wrong, but pursuing profit is not.

We all need money to survive, to pay for the food we eat, to pay for our cars and homes, and other things that we use on a regular basis. In an economy that is very uncertain right now it makes sense to try to make as much money as you can, not just to pay the bills but also for protection if you lose your job and don't have any money for a while. One of the reasons that the pursuit of profit is not wrong is because we all need to make money to survive. We need money to pay the bills and we need to save up money as well for protection if we lose our income. In that sense, pursuing profit can be about survival and there's nothing wrong with trying to get by or trying to move forward so you'll be in a better situation financially.

A lot of people seem to forget how many good things money can really be used for. Whenever I donate a few dollars to charity I wish I could give more. It's not that the dollars I give don't count. It's just that I could make more of a difference if I could give more money. Money can be used to donate to charity organizations, help pay for homes and hospitals that are desperately needed, and help with emergency relief. If we're all just barely getting by and not making any more money than that we cannot give very much to charity and good causes. A lot of charity organizations were started by entrepreneurs who could only afford to start a non-profit because of how much money they made. Money can be used for a lot of good things.

Another reason that pursuing profit is not wrong is a reason that some would dispute. I believe in the pursuit of happiness and acquiring wealth is what makes some people happy. There is nothing wrong with people who have worked hard for the large amounts of money that they have spending that money on buying big houses and lots of cars and boats. People who spend their money on these types of things tend to be demonized the most, unless they're a celebrity of course. Then that kind of spending is cool. People should be able to reap the rewards of earning a lot of money. We should also keep in mind that these splurges can be good for the economy. As much as some people might dislike big spenders we need big spenders. Others can judge as much as they want, but there is nothing wrong with pursuing profits. Not everyone believes the message society sends us that it is better for us to settle for less instead of striving for success and making money.

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