Assignment problem: Upon reflection, businesses are not directly concerned with meeting societies' needs (above), but on earning profit. At this point (and we shall return to this later), to what extent would you say the father of economics, Adam Smith, was correct when he said:
"It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest." Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations.
As you will see, the case for capitalism (and the risks and harms it imposes on many) rests upon the view that market systems harness self-interest very well; that somehow markets combine great and self-interested energy in the pursuit of profit and generate good outcomes for all of society. What chinks in that armor do we deduce so far? What strengths do we find?