- For landlords, high rental costs are good for business; maintenance costs are bad for business.
- For employers, low wages are good for business; unions are bad for business.
- For manufacturers, cheap raw materials are good for business; for manufacturers, developers, mining companies, and energy companies, concern for the environment is bad for business.
- For gun companies, gun sales are good for business; restrictions on guns are bad for business.
- For social media companies, hate speech and propaganda are good for business; regulation is bad for business.
- For journalism, Donald Trump is great for business; Joe Biden is bad for business.
Time for a new business model.
Someone commented on Mastodon that ‘poor maintenance, bad work conditions and cheap quality are not “good” for business.’
Yes—in the long run, they are disastrous for business. Unfortunately, all the incentives seem to encourage what humans are really good at: short-term thinking. In the short term, the less money you spend, the more you have.
What if landlords got tax breaks for keeping their average rental costs below the local market average? What if large employers got tax breaks for a unionized work force? What if companies got tax breaks for meeting environmental standards? These might be a way of offering short-term incentives to do what is good for all of us in the long term.