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POLITICS
When Is Making Money Unethical?
How do we decide?
This was inspired by a post by Tessa Schlesinger
Tessa asked if profiting from the sale of pandemic related products is ethical. I started to answer in a comment, but it became very long, so I wrote this instead. I do not have any definite answers, but I do have strong opinions.
No source of money is unethical in itself. It can only become so if someone is cheated or harmed by the transaction.
Harm is the determining factor
If a person has to give up food or necessary medicine to afford whatever you are selling, it is unethical if they MUST have what you sell. A COVID vaccine is a must, so are masks. If a child needs medicine to live, if you need an operation to save your life, and these things cripple someone financially, they are unethical.
In all such cases, someone is unethical, but it may not be the seller. In many situations, it is society or government at large that has created the ethical problem.
