Creating Capital / Money-making as an aim in business

The essay examines the desire to make money as a widespread motive and asks when pursuing a surplus becomes a legitimate life aim. It weighs common moral objections that cast money-making as opposed to virtues such as patriotism, philanthropy, and family duty, and argues that earning and saving also create capital that benefits family, community, and society by enabling public goods and future security. It contrasts improvident attitudes with the responsibilities of providing for contingencies, critiques dismissals of saving as merely sordid, and urges that capital formation be pursued with ethical standards that balance private gain and social obligations.