Profit is generated when a seller sells a product or service for a fee more than the cost in labor to produce the product or service. And the difference between the two is called profit. When a seller continues to sell products and services for a profit he is now a proprietor and operating what is called a business. A business is only a medium of exchange to generate a profit, if a business fails to generate a profit it cannot exist and must close. Government itself is not part of the economy but what it does greatly influences the economy. In a society or nation government is a must to provide internal and external protection and to do the things the people can't do for themselves. But, one thing government should never do is become a social and family provider. That is like a nation feeding on itself. Once government becomes a social and family provider it is only a matter of time before its demand for more and more taxes become endless. Government becomes like a junkie on the streets for a tax fix until it destroys the very source of its own survival, which is the profit generated by businesses. Are we there yet? Nope, but we are getting awful close. To finance government being a social and family provider that money must come from a private business directly, or from the wages and possessions of it's employees. But remember, a business doesn't pay taxes, people pay taxes. A business is just a medium of exchange to generate a profit. The working people and those who pay taxes is who pays for our welfare state. And the load has become too heavy, only our massive debt load is keeping us fed. And who knows when the bottom will drop out of that and doom us all. In the early days of business a big problem was finding the capital to grow and expand. That problem was solved when someone came up with the idea of dividing a business into shares and selling the shares as stock. And then along comes compound interest and economics took on a life of its own. Sure, all of this other stuff changes things, but in my view it still boils down to just two players, a seller and a buyer. Again, I repeat, there is nothing on earth that can save the USA as a dying nation except a genuine true free market place economy. But, it is impossible to have a true free market place economy with a "Minimum wage law" in place. For the shallow minded the "Minimum wage law" is all about wages and a paycheck or how much one is getting paid. If the minimum wage law was repealed tomorrow I doubt there would be much sudden change in what people get paid. There is no "Maximum wage law" on what an employer can pay for labor. To get better workers you got to pay better wages. It still holds true, you get what you pay for. My focus on the "Minimum wage law" is the mechanics of what it does to the discipline of a free market place economy at work. Any forced wage or price control no matter how small kills the discipline in a free market place economy. All of the great production power and abundance of everything in a free market place economy is all due to its discipline. You get paid what you are worth to the business, not what the government says you are worth. When the minimum wage law was enacted in 1938 it took the discipline out of the USA economy and our whole society has been slowly falling apart ever since. And only repealing the minimum wage law will give the USA a fighting chance of surviving the destruction of our nuclear and extended family system, our moral and spiritual values, and lack of any emergency backup bartering capacity. What is called a free market place economy here in the USA today is actually a phony p.... of a true free market place economy. The USA economy of today lacks any true discipline to purge out gross inefficiency and moral decay. Discipline is what gives purpose to life."