In the capitalistic system it would appear to be the highest calling of those that are practitioners of such, to make a profit; yet, a profit without taking into account that all businesses have some sort of innate responsibility to do right by their community must also being fairly considered. That is to say, if a given for-profit business is all about just the making of money, of which ethics and morals as well as responsibility to the general public, plays no part whatsoever; then the end result, at best, is going to be directly beneficial for a very few, somewhat beneficial to others, and perhaps quite detrimental to the many. The reason that this is so, is that, the concentration of capital into ever fewer hands disrupts the good functioning of democracies because the impact of money plays an outsized role in how rules and regulations, as well as laws are actually enforced or even enacted in legislatures and thereby adjudged in courts of justice. Additionally, some businesses, by their very nature, deal with toxic chemicals, or other elements that are inherently dangerous to the public as well as to the environment if not properly handled and disposed of, in which, these companies are often going to be tempted to avoid doing what is necessary and prudent to do for the safety and protection of people and that environment, if that business, unduly weighs making profits above proper social accountability.
Clearly, those businesses that either directly or indirectly create or utilize toxic elements must be held accountable to such an extent that the general public and the government should not ever be left “holding the bag” when pollution, or negative environmental events, occur. In other words, those businesses that are in industries that either create pollution to some extent, or are handling toxic chemicals, must be licensed in a manner in which, there is some sort of guarantee or monetary bond so created to handle adverse consequences, of bad acts so made -- that is structured to be part and parcel of the conditions of that business, and therefore is a necessary cost of doing business, so it thereby has precedence over the distribution of profits, because of that accountability.
In point of fact, corporations should always be held accountable to that society, which permits their existence in the first place. This signifies that appropriate rules and regulations by governmental agencies need to be enforced in a manner in which the general public and their protection thereof, comes before profit. After all, it isn’t fair for any corporation to make a bucketload of money, with one hand, while with the other hand, saddling the environment and public health with toxic costs which essentially are socialized; thereby permitting that corporation and its beneficiaries to hold onto their profit, without a fair accounting of what the true costs were of that profit to that society and to that environment.
All those that are in businesses in which the nature of that business could cause environmental or public health harm, need to as part of their business enterprise, fairly account for the contingencies of that harm, rather than taking the attitude that corporate profits are theirs to own, but the bad consequences of corporate harm is essentially at the public’s expense.