Blog Entry 12/04/21

Virtue and Integrity are vital to an economy because that is how markets operate, according to Handy. Personal ethics can influence an entire business. If these ethics are not moral, everything becomes too unreliable and there is no trust to keep an operating market open. People would keep their money elsewhere because the economy would not be considered safe enough to reinvest in. If no one plays "according to the rules," the fragile system could crack and eventually break. Harvey states that this increasing lack of distrust is seen when companies place their own safety, finances, and well-being above all.

Charles states that the real justification for the existence of business is not just to make a profit and leave it at that. It is to make a profit so that the business or company can "do something more or better." "A good business is a community with a purpose, and a community is not something to be "owned." He claims that the issue without this lack of justification has to do with morality. "To mistake the means for the end is to be turned in on oneself, which Saint Augustine called one of the greatest sins. Deep down, the suspicions about capitalism are rooted in a feeling that its instruments, the corporations, are immoral in that they have no purpose other than themselves."

The first solution that Handy proposed was that the measure of success should be measured by outcomes regarding others and themselves. I agree with this because that would encourage more moral and ethical results. This would support a reliable and trusting market that would not be so fragile. Another solution is that all businesses should aspire to continually progress to make products and services more widespread, available, and affordable. Just like how Handy claimed that a profit made with no further ambition does not justify business, progress without intended to profit people and the business does not justify progress. I agree with this because a lot of people suffer due to a lack of progress and its benefits.

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