Highly controversial statement indeed. But first of all let's set the boundaries of what we're talking about here. In this post, we're exploring the moral and ethical side of legitimate occupations. Or rather, one legitimate occupation. Forget about your drug cartels and street thugs. We all know how these people bring harm to society. What I would like to ponder about is how legitimate professions might just be less than beneficial to society. I hope this post will be insightful to you.
Now, why do I say that investing is the worst profession? In my opinion, a profession has to contribute to society in order to be considered a "good" profession. We might not be aware of it, but yes, almost every legitimate profession contributes to society. Companies produce goods that are needed by society, and that is how they earn their revenue. The more society craves for the company's products, the more revenue the company earns. This is evidenced from the rise of technological giants like Microsoft and Apple, which propelled their founders into the "billionaire dictionaries" like Forbes. Factory workers, by being part of the manufacturing process, indirectly contribute to the welfare of society by being a "cog" in the whole factory "machine". In short, the more in-demand goods you supply to the society, the more you contribute to society, and the more you get paid. Income becomes proportional to contribution.
But what do investors do? Well, one for sure, there are many forms of investing. Perhaps, investments in stocks and shares might not bring about as much of a damage to society. But let's look at my argument first. Investors are unlike the people mentioned above. They do not produce tangible goods. They do not produce ANY good, in fact. Their job is to make a profit by being somewhat a "middleman" at convenient times, buying goods or stocks at low prices and selling them off when they are able to provide the investor with a profit. But what do we all learn in the first lesson of micro economics? Resource is scarce. There's only a finite amount of resources on our planet. What investors do, is to simply get these resources from doing nothing for society. They produce nothing tangible in replacement for what they take away. They get something from nothing. The good still stays on the market, but they reap a profit for just holding on to the good.
In fact, it has come to my attention that much of the world's turmoil is further aggravated by the actions of investors. With the looming fuel crisis, many have started investing in crude oil, reaping profits while pushing up oil prices, causing a fall in what can be termed as "real income". In countries experiencing rapid economic growth, most notably China, investors have been blamed for pushing up the prices of housing in major cities. In China, there were even reports of "ghost towns" where entire stretches of apartments are left empty after their construction is complete, simply because they are being bought as an investment. In the commodity market, which has made many worked up over the ever increasing food prices, investors have been blamed for stockpiling, leading to a shortage in food, and rapid increase in food prices.
With all these in mind, perhaps, investing isn't such an honourable profession, is it? But of course, many of the world's riches men have donated much of their wealth to the various charity organisations around the world. But that doesn't change the nature of the job. Perhaps, it is just a way to atone for the sins which brought them their wealth.
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