There Shouldn't Be Risk in An Economy

We should prioritize efficient distribution, not profit.

This article is for premium subscribers. If you’d like to access it and support my work, upgrade to a premium membership today.

Enjoy! - Joe

Photo by CHUTTERSNAP on Unsplash

Early this week I wrote a retort to the argument that “business owners take all the risk and should therefore get all the profits.” You can read it here, but the TLDR is that while owners risk losing their businesses and becoming workers, workers risk their lives, limbs, and sanity.

Answering the Question: "Don't Owners Deserve Profit for Taking All the Risk?"

The response to the article was as expected. My left-leaning audience appreciated it, and Chamber of Commerce members told me to kill myself in the Tik Tok comments. 

@joewrote3 reasons why “owner risk” isn’t a strong argument for giving business owners profit. #labor #laborrights #laborrightshumanrights #workersrights #democraticsocialism #democraticsocialistconvention #democraticsocialist #democraticsocialist #socialistsoftiktok #socialists #communistsoftiktok #communistsofcolor

Tiktok failed to load.

Enable 3rd party cookies or use another browser

And though I strongly believe the risks workers endure on a daily basis are far greater than that of the median business owner, the question of “Who takes the most risk?” is an artificial issue, one created by the bulwark against human progress that is contemporary Capitalism. 

The higher concern, one that everyone should be concerned with, is how we can structure an economy in which there is no risk for anyone. 

Risk Is Unnecessary

In some regards, the question of “who takes the most risk” is a red herring. Yes, it is important for us to recognize that the risk-to-reward of the current system is unfair and unnatural, but there is a higher question. Capitalism has spun humanity around like a five-century-long game of dizzy bat, causing us to lose sight of what should be our goal. Instead of preserving this system, which requires risk, exploitation, and artificial scarcity, humanity should focus on creating an economy that prioritizes the efficient distribution of goods, not the maximization of profit.

The fact that someone must undertake risk to satisfy a community’s economic need shows that Capitalism is a sub-optimal economic system. If a business is successful, that means the goods or services it provides are either wanted or needed by consumers. There was a demand, and the business fulfilled it. If there was no demand, the business would fail.