Opportunity Costs and the late, Great Planet Earth

I could write a book shooting holes in the arguments about how business, by maximizing its bottom line or accounting profit, is destroying the universe, undermining the morals of our children, and causing every physical and social disaster that has ever occurred or will ever occur. But it isn't necessary. There is one and only one argument against these kinds of accusations. That argument is opportunity cost.

I cannot help but think about the biblical reproach that asks, "What does it profit a man if he gain the whole world but suffer the loss of his soul?" Within this context I would like to ask, "What does it profit a company if its opportunity cost exceeds its bottom line?"

Companies that are rational when it comes to making business decisions have absolutely no incentive to engage in strategies to maximize their bottom lines by destroying the Earth. The opportunity cost associated with such a decision would be cataclysmic. And what are these cataclysmic opportunity costs for businesses? They would destroy their resource base and their customer base, thereby destroying themselves. And that, my dear Watson, is the ultimate opportunity cost any company can incur.