Some Psychology Of Profits And Control
Some Psychology Of Profits And Control
By David Chanley
Most people think they know what profits are. Profits are a little more intricate than what most people think. Most people think profit is the surplus remaining after the costs involved in production have been paid. In the ideal world that is how it would be. In the real world, there are still more taxes to be paid even after all the costs involved have been paid. All those costs included taxes that were passed on to the consumer. Then an additional gains tax takes a significant portion of the surplus remaining after the costs involved in production have been paid.
The profit is what the government allows you to keep of any surplus after the costs involved in production have been paid. Government taxes force prices to be higher. Government regulations force prices to be higher.
An example is a store. You are the owner-operator. You need to get $100 a week so you can put food on your table. You sell $1 000 of merchandise which costs $ 900 for the merchandise and sales costs. Your store is surviving. You are putting food on your table.
Then the government increases some taxes on the suppliers and producers of the goods. The government also mandates regulations that make producing those goods more expensive. Now you have to pay $ 1 000 for the goods and the cost of selling the goods. To get the same $ 100 so you can put food on the table you have to raise your prices 10% to $ 1 100 and hope your sales volume does not go down.
Your store had to raise its prices by 10%. Was the store price gouging? Or, was the government price gouging? Could all the customers afford to pay 10% more?
Imagine the government increased your gains tax by $ 10. Then you only get to keep $ 90 of the $ 100 that you need so you can put food on your table. You must increase your markup by $ 11. You need $10 new income to replace the funds taxed away. You also need another $ 1 in gains so you can pay the new tax on the money you need to replace the money that was taxed away from you. If the government raises your gains tax by 10% you have to raise your prices again just to keep putting the food on your table.
Was the store price gouging? Or, was the government price gouging?
The government loves to blame the victims that the government victimizes. The government loves to blame businesses for price gouging when it is the government that is price gouging. The government is always trying to price gouge us as much as it can. That is the incentive of bureaucracy. Reducing government price gouging will allow producers to sell at lower prices. Reducing government price gouging will allow consumers to buy at lower prices. Reducing government price gouging will allow both the producers and consumers to have much more prosperity, at lower costs.
Start blaming the government for price gouging us and causing price increases when prices go up. In a competitive marketplace, the prices will be the most competitive prices that the competitors can provide.
Profits are not always the money the government allows us to keep in our pockets. Profit can be any form of gain. Investing in flowers and flowery phrases can produce gains in a relationship. Those gains in a relationship could be seen as a form of profit. Those gains in a relationship are actually a form of profit.
Increasing obtained wants and needs is profiting. In today’s society that too often is reduced down to being money and only money. Everything other than money is often forgotten or ignored. All wants and needs being satisfied are a form of profit. The government likes to reduce it all down to money because it is the money the government takes from us. We should strive to maximize our non-money economy so we can minimize the parasitism upon us that the government imposes.
Local time tokens or local favor tokens could replace money in many situations. Everyone just helping each other could get more done if money was not involved. Private disaster relief is an example of this.
I recall a story about a town during a depression. A traveler stops at a hotel and inquires about staying there a while and gives the owner a $ 100 deposit so he can thoroughly inspect the town and facilities. The owner quickly pays his $ 100 bill with the maintenance worker who in turn quickly pays his $ 100 bill with the butcher. The butcher quickly pays his $100 bill to the supplier who then quickly pays his $ 100 bill to the utility company. The utility company quickly paid the $100 fees the mayor was demanding. Then the mayor pays his $100 bill with his hooker who then quickly pays her $ 100 bill with the hotel owner. Then the traveler returns to the desk and says he has decided to travel a bit more before stopping for a while and the hotel owner returns the $ 100 bill to him and he moves on.
Everyone got out of debt because $ 100 showed up. Did any money really need to be used to get everyone out of debt? Every money transfer we do, the government could demand to get its piece of the action. If local time tokens or local favor tokens were used would the government still be able to demand a piece of the action? Even if money is used, why should we allow the government to demand a piece of the action in everything we do? Isn't the government supposed to be our servant and not a mafia extorting us?
We all probably make more profit when we use things other than money to satisfy our wants and needs. We at least make the additional amount that the government does not tax away from us.
Profit comes in many forms. Money is just one form that profit comes in. To the warmongers, propaganda lies deliver a profit to their agenda. To a politician, campaign lies deliver a profit to their election agenda. Everything that assists an agenda is a form of profit to that agenda.
When I was taking a business class in college a teacher asked the standard business class question. Would you rather own 80% of a 1-pound pie or 40% of a 10-pound pie? Owning 80% of a 1-pound pie gives you more responsibility and you only get 0.8 pounds of pie. Owning 40% of a 10-pound pie you get 4 pounds of pie without the responsibility of being the majority owner. Do you want 5 times the amount of pie and less responsibility? Or, do you want control of the pie even if it means you have more responsibility and only get a fifth as much pie?
I was surprised how many people felt that having more control was more important to them than having more prosperity. They would prefer more control over having 5 times the prosperity. To me, they were control freaks. The control freaks were the overwhelming majority of the students in the class.
The general public does not seem to be able to get their heads wrapped around the fact that those more upwardly mobile in management tend to be the more extreme control freaks. They will sacrifice their own prosperity in exchange for more control. They will sacrifice our prosperity in exchange for more control. They prefer control more than money. They prefer control more than profit. They prefer control more than prosperity. No wonder the masses suffer in poverty.
The psychology of those we let manage our society is not the typical psychology of the typical people. The psychology of those we let manage our society is more the psychology of a psychopath control freak. It is the control freaks that gravitate to the positions of authority. It is the more control freak personalities that are more upwardly mobile in positions of authority. It is the people with extreme control freak personalities in the higher-up positions in managing our societies.
The ones elected to office are the most charismatic who’s campaign lies better to deliver profits to their election agenda. They will sacrifice their own prosperity for their increased control. They will sacrifice our prosperity for their increased control. The people with the more control freak personality and more charismatic campaign liars are who we elect to run our society. We elect psychopaths who will sacrifice our prosperity for their control to run our society. No wonder the masses suffer under tyranny in poverty.
Profit includes what benefits an agenda. Successful censorship is a form of profit. Gaining control is a form of profit. Getting past first base in a relationship is a form of profit.
Increased tyranny is a form of profit to the psychopaths who we let run our society. Anything that assists the agenda of the psychopaths we let run our society is a form of profit to them. Anything that assists the agenda of anyone is a form of profit to them.
The psychology of the puppeteers of the puppet politicians is very different from the psychology of the masses they are controlling. The masses often believe, That is insane, nobody would ever do that. That is the psychology of the masses. The very different psychology of the puppeteers of the puppet politicians creates a very different understanding. The puppeteers of the puppet politicians have a psychology that believes that what the masses think is insane and nobody would ever do is rational and exactly what they want to do. The puppeteers of the puppet politicians have a psychology that believes that what the masses think is insane and nobody would ever do is exactly what they do.
What the masses see as being so insane that nobody would ever do is what the puppeteers of the puppet politicians see as profits for their control freak agenda. What the masses see as being so insane that nobody would ever do is exactly what the puppeteers of the puppet politicians want to do.
The masses need to understand that what the masses see as being so insane that nobody would ever do is exactly what the puppeteers of the puppet politicians want to do. The masses need to understand that puppeteers of the puppet politicians would sacrifice their own prosperity for more control. The masses need to understand that puppeteers of the puppet politicians would gladly sacrifice the prosperity of the masses for more control. The masses need to understand that the puppeteers of the puppet politicians have an abnormal insane psychology.
We should stop allowing them to control our society. Allowing the puppeteers of the puppet politicians to control our society is detrimental to the well-being of the masses. The masses are being controlled by the puppeteers of the puppet politicians who crave control. For a healthy society, we must no longer allow the puppeteers of the puppet politicians to control our society. For our own prosperity, we must no longer allow the puppeteers of the puppet politicians to control our society. For our own freedom, we must no longer allow the puppeteers of the puppet politicians to control our society.