Most U.S. investors prefer profits, even when companies harm people

Thursday, November 06, 2003 by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger Editor of NaturalNews.com (See all articles...) Tags: business ethics, pharmaceutical profits, U.S. investors

It always amazes me how the public will invest in anything that makes money, whether or not the profits come from ethical business conduct. If the Nazi party were alive and well today, and if Nazi, Inc., produced a 200% annual return on investments, I fear the vast majority of U.S. investors would gladly buy its stock.

Every day, people invest in companies selling products that harm the health of people all around the world. Coca Cola sells a product that most nutritionists say promotes weight gain and diabetes. Kraft foods sells a whole slew of food products containing hydrogenated oils, refined sugars, saturated fats and preservative chemicals. And drug companies, of course, make money selling toxic chemicals that destroy the vital organs of their customers, to the tune of over a hundred thousand victims each year.

Yet it's all done in the name of profit, and as long as profits are to be had, most people will just keep on investing.

But in this article, we're seeing that investors were hardly hot on the recent IPO of these two drug companies. It isn't a shift to ethics, however. Chances are, these two companies just didn't appear to be well positioned for high profits.

There's a whole lot of profit to be made from building products that kill people. Just ask any of the war industry giants. Building bombs is big business, and the only way to keep more orders pouring in is to use up the old inventory.